Only a Dream
by penofjade
Summary: Sarah hated when he invaded her dreams, but this time, he's gone too far. Was a one-shot, now it's not... Based on the webcomic Girls Next Door by Pika-la-Cynique. I have no idea if this will ever end.
1. It's Only a Dream!

A/N: This story came out of nowhere and wouldn't leave alone until I let it have its say. It's based off the webcomic world of Pika-la-Cynique, which she has uploaded on dA. Go see it for yourself; it's pretty amazing! Christine, Erik, and Raoul are from Phantom of the Opera, Sarah and Jareth are, obviously, from Labyrinth. Christine and Sarah are roomies, as are Jareth and Erik, if you're slightly confused by anything. I hope you enjoy the story! It was great fun to write ^.^

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><p>Sarah watched as her ten-year old son climbed out of the pool, shaking his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. He looked so much like Ambrosious when he did that, she couldn't help but laugh at him. Hearing her laughter, he looked in her direction. His blue eyes lit up with a mischievous fire as he hurried towards her. Standing, she backed away from him as he dripped his way nearer.<p>

"Don't you dare, young man!" she said, for her she knew what he was attempting. She had just finished drying off, and she had no intention of getting wet again. He smirked and kept stalking her. This was a game they played, the two of them. His twin sister was more likely to sneak up while she wasn't looking and throw a bucket of water on her.

As her son made a lunge for her, his arms open, she stepped sideways and nudged him back into the water. He came up a moment later, whining, "Mooooom! You never let me get you…That's not fair!"

"Allow me," came a soft, familiar voice from behind her. Before she could even glance over her shoulder, she found herself treading water next to her son. "After all, dear" came the voice again, "we must be fair."

Spluttering, she turned towards the voice and saw -

"Jareth!" Sarah sat straight up in bed, her arms flailing. Breathing heavily, she sat there, her eyes wide. "No…"she muttered to herself. "No, I did not just dream that-". Shuddering, she grabbed her arms and rubbed her hands up and down.

Her door creaked open a minute later or so, and her roommate poked her head in. "Are you alright, Sarah? I thought I heard you yell something and I wanted to make sure you weren't sleepwalking again…"

The comment brought her head up, and she stared at Christine for a second. As her left eye began to twitch, she got out of bed, only to glare _through _the floor. "Why that little…"

Christine, who was now becoming even more confused, asked, "What happened?"

"He made me dream…No, it's too terrible; I can't say."

"What?"

"I think it's going to give me nightmares."

"I didn't think he'd make you do that in a dream…Good grief, he can't get any awake so he has to do it while you sleep?"

"No, Christine, it was worse…"

"Worse? Seriously?"

"Uh huh…"

"What did you dream?"

"We had kids…"

Christine's eyes got really big and she couldn't quite contain the look on her face which translated into "ahhhhh".

Sarah had begun pacing during their short conversation, but now she stopped, put her fists on her hips and glared at the floor again. "That's it. I have had _enough_! We are talking about this: now!"

Christine stood in the open door of their apartment and watched the brunette punch the elevator button four times in rapid succession. As the glowering face disappeared behind the slowly closing doors, the singer's mind couldn't help but think how romantic that dream must have been. Sighing, she closed the door and made herself a cup of tea. It wouldn't be long before Sarah was back, and she wanted to hear everything.

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><p>Sarah pounded three times on the door, waiting as she heard shuffling footsteps on the other side. The door cracked open just a bit and she saw Erik's bleary eye looking out at her. Seeing who it was, he sighed and opened the door the rest of the way. "What's he done now?" he asked, his expression resigned.<p>

"He's gone and stuck nasty things in my dreams, that's what!" she bit out as she stomped her way into the living room. Not seeing a blonde head, she turned down the hallway. She hoped he was still asleep, then she could dump ice water on him.

However, when she shoved his door open, she was not quite so lucky. He was still lying on his stomach, but he was up on his forearms staring at the door as though it were about to eat him. "Sarah? What's-"

She didn't let him get any farther. Stopping next to the bed, she glared at him, her hands once again on her hips.

"Are you alright?"

"You slimy little rat toad, how could you?"

"I honestly have no idea what you're-"

"Don't lie to me, Jareth, or so help me!"

"What-"

"You think you can just pop things into my dreams?"

"Now wait-"

"Well, I don't think so! We've been over this before, haven't we?"

"You-"

"I feel like I'm caught in a loop here, and you-"

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE DONE THIS TIME?"

Sarah finally stopped ranting as Jareth jumped out of his bed, eyes glaring down at her, his fluffy hair standing up in even more directions than usual. His reaction to her accusations threw her off track for a moment, but his hair brought her right back. The boy in her dream had that hair. And the eyes. At that moment, his blue eyes were staring at her like she'd just grown another head.

"Don't act innocent, Jareth. I don't appreciate dreaming about you, period, but then you have to go and throw something like that in?"

"Sarah," here he pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Tell me what it is you think I've done." As she opened her mouth to spew more at him, he held up the other hand, his jaw tight. "Now."

She had already spent most of her steam, so she was left holding her elbows and looking towards his window. "Why children, Jareth?"

He had been rubbing his forehead, but at her question, he froze. She was waiting for a snarky comment, wishing she'd just stayed upstairs. She was not expecting his hand to come out and draw her face around towards his. "Children?"

"Yes, Jareth, children. Little blonde children with your eyes. It's not funny…" her eyes refused to meet his, until he voiced his next question.

"You were dreaming about _our _children?"

"Why are you acting so con-" she ground to a halt as a possibility popped into her head. "You really didn't send that dream, did you?"

"No, I didn't, but I'm curious to know about it."

Her eyes got really big and she spun around, darting back into the living room, dodging around furniture to get to the front door. Just as her hand wrapped around the knob, she felt his presence crowd up behind her. Aiming for his stomach, she shoved her elbow back. He grabbed it with his left hand as his right settled on the door near her head.

"Know this, Sarah; I might mess with you here and there, suggest something once in awhile, but I don't send dreams about the future. Not my style. But I won't lie and say that I'm not floored and flattered you were dreaming about our children."

"They're not our-" she tried to interject, struggling to get her elbow back.

"Don't!" he commanded, his voice holding a rough edge. "They may or may not, that's not the point. What I'm trying to say, if you'll listen, is that I've never dreamed of our future. _Ever_. However, if you're seeing a possible future in your dreams, take care of it. They're just children, after all."

"They aren't real, Jareth…"

At that, she found herself, back to pressed up against the door, his face inches from her own. "Don't. Say. That." This time he really was growling at her.

She had never seen him like this before, and that frightened her just a bit.

"You know the power of words, Sarah. Just because you don't really like me at the moment doesn't mean things won't change years from now. Don't say things now that you'll regret later. Their lives might lie in your hands. Remember Toby, Sarah. You didn't really think goblins would come and take him, but we did. You don't really think they exist, but they might. Watch your mouth, precious, because if they are real, they aren't just yours. They're mine too. And I won't let anyone, including their mother, hurt them." With that final declaration, he pushed himself off the door and went to move away from her.

Sarah turned slowly back around and went to open the door. Something made her stop, however, with her foot inches from the threshold. "Jareth," she said, her back to him, "I'm sorry for accusing you…"

"It's fine," she heard him mumble, his voice sounding slightly strained, as though he were exhausted.

Glancing over her shoulder at him, she saw him looking away from her, his eyes lowered. Without thinking, she went to him, stood on tiptoe, and brushed her lips across his cheek. As she pulled away, his startled, mismatched blue eyes met hers. Not saying anything, she darted out the door and hurried back upstairs.

Christine's head had just nodded forward for the third time in seven minutes when she heard the door open and close quietly. Blinking the bleariness from her eyes, she looked over to see her roommate looking slightly shell-shocked. Standing, she hurried over and said, "What happened?"

"He didn't do it."

"Really?"

"Yeah…He said it wasn't him."

"And you believe him?"

"After that, yes."

"After what?"

"He went all manly on me, hurt pride and all."

"…"

"Don't try, there's no way you could picture it."

"Then where'd they come from?"

"Maybe the bologna sandwich I had before bed."

Sarah moved away from the opera singer, heading towards her own room. Christine's voice stopped her before she got there.

"What if it's real?"

"What is?"

"What if they're really your kids?"

"Don't even say that, Christine."

"But, what-"

"Don't! I can't think about that right now…"

A moment or two of silence ruled the apartment, then Christine said softly, "You kind of hope they are, don't you?"

Sarah didn't answer, merely glancing over her shoulder and saying, "I'm going back to bed. Goodnight."

Christine was left in the living room, wondering what it would be like to dream about her kids.

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><p>The next morning, Sarah seemed in a much better mood, so Christine teased her a little about the dream. "So, does he make pretty babies?"<p>

Sarah flushed a little, staring at her buttered toast as though it would soon begin explaining the cure for cancer.

"He does, doesn't he?" she said, laughing as Sarah's face got even redder. Pushing herself away from the table, the brunette put her dishes in the sink. Christine was just about to say something else when Sarah said something to make her mouth slap shut.

"I don't know…Erik's kids weren't too bad looking, either."

"WHAT?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Sarah asked. "You were there too, in my dream. Your kids were swimming with mine. And they most assuredly did not look like de Chagnys." Sarah left the room, humming a little, once again leaving her roommate behind. This time, however, Christine didn't move for a good half hour. She sat there, eyes glazed over, until Sarah yelled on her way to class, "Don't you have a music lesson today or something?"


	2. No One Need Ever Know

A/N: I had originally decided that this was going to be a one-shot, then the bats dive bombed my head again...Anyway, here's what I came up with this time. What if the dreams Sarah's been having weren't quite so terrible after all?

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><p>The blond boy was climbing up the side of the play set when Sarah stepped out onto the back patio, holding a tray of chocolate-chip cookies. <em>His <em>antics didn't bother her; however, when Christine's little girl attempted to follow him, she knew she needed to step in. The girl, only five, was dressed in a brand new dress, and Sarah had no desire to hear her friend if it ended up torn. Granted, why the opera singer insisted on dressing the girl like that for a play date, the brunette could never say.

The blond boy's twin sister came dashing around the side of the house at that moment, distracting Sarah just long enough for her to hear the unmistakable sound of French fabric ripping. Her daughter, face smudged with dirt, was holding what looked like a genetically mutated frog clasped between her fingers. Three little goblins had followed her, and they were even filthier.

Picking the well-dressed girl off the stone side of the play set, she glared over her shoulder at the man trotting after his daughter. The Goblin King saw her expression and came to a halt, looking slightly sheepish.

"By _play with her_ I did not mean for you create a new species of monster frog, Jareth," she reprimanded as she she checked the hem of the little girl's dress. Sure enough, there was a tear all along the bottom where a piece of lace, probably from Brussels and very expensive, hung forlornly.

"Well, precious," she heard him say as her friend's daughter darted back towards the castle-shaped piece of play equipment, "truth to tell, she did that all on her own." His hands had snaked around her waist as she stood up, drawing her back up against his front. As he nuzzled her neck, she stared, horrified, at the thing her daughter was now hopping along happily behind.

"Are you telling me she _made_ that thing?"

"No...She just made it a little bigger than it was originally. My little princess is going to be quite the woman some day." His tone held obvious admiration.

Sarah dropped her face into one hand, groaning. "Why me?" she mumbled, as she both heard and felt him chuckle behind her.

Before she could retaliate for his levity, she heard Christine's voice from the patio. "What in the world have you done to your new dress?" Glancing in that direction, she saw the small, dark haired girl standing before her mother, who was, at that moment, holding a squirming bundle. The man behind her walked in that direction, divesting her friend of what proved to be another child, albeit much younger than the others in the yard. Bringing it back towards her, he cooed down at it, "Did my baby girl have a nice nap?"

When he reached her side, she saw herself looking down into the round face of a baby whose bright green eyes stared back at her owlishly. Taking the baby from its father, she cuddled it as her older daughter, growing bored with the frog, ran towards her.

"Let me see her!" she demanded, pulling on Sarah's shirt.

Jareth hoisted her into the air so she, too, could admire the baby. From the playset she heard her son yelling that he was king and he dared anybody to challenge him.

Two green eyes opened into the darkness of a still bedroom. Sarah Williams peered around the room, checking to make sure that nothing and _no one_ was watching her. Assuring herself that she was, indeed, alone, she allowed herself a small smile. While she would never share any of _those_ dreams with another living soul _ever again_, she couldn't help but like enjoy them...just a little.

Rolling over, she grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly. In her mind, she chuckled and said, "Yes, Christine, he makes absolutely gorgeous babies..." Smiling, she fell back into dreams. And that's all they were, she assured herself. Only dreams.

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><p>Honestly, who doesn't like the picture of Sarah <em>letting<em> Jareth nuzzle her neck? I mean, come on! Please review, all you wonderful people out there! *puppy dog eyes*


	3. Why Is It Just a Dream?

A/N: Stupid plot bats...My guess is they're goblins dressed like chickens, but I can never see them well enough to know for sure. Anyway, here's another short chapter about these two...

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><p>The room was still, and the moon shining in softly through the curtains was only a small sliver high in the sky. It was peaceful and Sarah snuggled deeper into her pillow, breathing deeply as she began to drift back into sleep. The stillness, however, was not to last long. As the moments drifted by, a sniffling cry came through the monitor on the stand beside her. Blinking a few times, she looked in its direction, really hoping that, for once, full blown "help me" cries wouldn't start issuing from it. So much for hoping...<p>

Sliding out of bed, she shuffled her way down the hall and into the nursery, her eyes adjusting to the soft night light glow. Leaning over the side of the crib, she reached down and picked up her third child, a little girl with bright green eyes. Cuddling her close, she checked her diaper. She was dry, so that left a hungry tummy. Making small shushing noises, she seated herself in the rocker next to the baby's bed. Letting the little girl grab hold, she rocked back and forth. When the baby seemed finished, Sarah drew her away, shifting her shirt so it covered everything again. She softly burped the now sleepy child, who curled into her shoulder like a kitten seeking warmth.

As she went to put the baby back into its crib, her husband materialized in front of her, carefully and gently taking the little girl. Nuzzling her and making small noises, he tucked her back in. Grabbing Sarah's hand, he led the older brunette into their room again, tucking her in as he had their daughter. Pulling her into his side, he ran his hand through her hair.

"You make beautiful babies, precious," he murmured, dropping a kiss on each of her closed eyelids.

Yawning slightly, she snuggled up against his shirtless front. "You too, Goblin King." Wrapping her arms around him, she smiled as he chuckled in response.

"I think I want a son again, next time...I'm going to need help watching over all my girls." His deep voice was insistently following her back into sleep.

"You're going to have to let this one get a little older before you start wanting more, Jareth," she answered, pulling her head back and looking up at him through bleary eyes.

"Sarah mine," he said, his voice smiling as he leaned in and snagged her lips for a drawn out kiss, "She'll be older before you know it. I'm just letting you know what'll be coming next." He then proceeded to put his head down, obviously heading back towards sleep himself.

"Jareth," Sarah reprimanded on a sigh, "You can _not_ wake me up with one of those and then just go-"

He didn't let her finish, for his mismatched eyes slid open once again, this time with a hint of glint in the deep reaches of them. Snagging her chin, he pulled her face up towards his as he pushed her more fully onto her back. "Oh precious," he intoned, his voice holding the softness that made her insides turn to happy mush, "All you have to do is ask."

As his mouth descended more fully onto hers, moving slightly to get a better angle, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Hands sliding into his amazingly soft hair, she allowed his tongue entry.

Pulling away after a few moments, she said, kissing the tip of his nose playfully, "Well then, Goblin King, I want you to spend time with your wife."

"Is that an order or a request?" he asked, kissing the side of neck softly, one hand smoothing over her waist.

"Well, I'm a Queen, so that must make it an order," she was barely managing to get words out now.

"In that case, the Queen always gets what she wants."

All Sarah managed to do was snort before all words flew straight out of her head.

The babies were gorgeous, but the baby-making was _glorious_.

Sitting up with a jerk, eyes wide in her pale face, she stared straight ahead. Her breathing was coming in soft pants, chest rising and falling a little too quickly for her taste. However, she _had _just come flying awake after dreaming about...well, _that_! She could only hope that Jareth was, for once, minding his own business and not snooping through her dreams.

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><p>A floor below, two mismatched eyes were gazing blankly into one of his many crystals. He could almost taste her as they kissed in her dream. When she woke up and the image began to fade, he found himself shivering slightly. He'd told her not to use hasty words, for he would protect his children with his life. When he'd gazed down at the face of the dark-haired baby, his heart had nearly stopped beating. His mind had uttered two words in rapid succession. First, <em>want<em>. Second, _mine._ As his dream wife nursed her, he'd wanted so badly to reach out and softly touch the little ones dark hair. So small...

She would not forgive him for watching her dreams, he had no doubt about that. However, after her rather intriguing little tantrum several nights earlier, he'd gotten increasingly curious. After watching this little performance, he had to wonder: did she dream about their children often? He sighed, leaning against the headboard of his empty bed, looking around his fairly empty room. He, in the deepest parts of his heart, wanted for those to not just be dreams. They couldn't be...

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><p>I'm not really expecting reviews, but they are always greatly appreciated ^.^<p> 


	4. I Can't Forget!

A/N: Stupid plot bats...Here you go folks! And there's even a cliff hanger at the end. Aren't you proud of me?

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><p>After the first dream, Sarah had begun anticipating them. In fact, she started going to bed <em>earlier<em>, just to drift into them sooner. When she realized how much she was looking forward to seeing those children every night, she had a minor freak out moment. Well, it actually lasted a little longer than that...more like a freak out two hours.

Christine clued in to the fact that her roommate was having some issues right about the time the brunette downed her third Monster in under forty minutes. "Sarah..." she started, watching the girl sit absolutely still on the couch, "You should be careful with those."

Sarah didn't answer, just crushed the can in her fist before setting it carefully down on the coffee table.

Christine's eyebrows disappeared into her blond hair. Glancing around the room, she couldn't see a Goblin King, so she wasn't sure what exactly had her roomie on edge. Deciding to be the good friend, she sighed and sat down next to the girl. "What's wrong?"

"I can't go to sleep. It's as simple as that."

Sarah's emphatic statement caused the singer's eyebrows to lower a bit, pinching in toward her nose as she asked, "Why?"

"If I sleep, I dream. If I dream, I forget. If I forget...I can't forget!" Shooting up off the couch, she flew across the room and into the tiny kitchen, jerking open the refrigerator's white door.

Christine just managed to stop her from taking a long draw from yet another Monster. "Stop it!" she said, dumping the green liquid down the sink drain. Before following Sarah back into the living room, she checked the fridge for any more of the stuff. One thing she didn't want to wake up to was a roommate who'd energized herself to death.

Poking her head around the door, she saw the future Goblin Queen (a title she never spoke out loud, for fear of her own life) pacing jerkily back and forth behind the couch. Going back to her early exclamation, Christine asked, "What can't you forget?"

"That he's a slimy, manipulative, evil, egotistical, baby-snatching, snake-throwing piece of slime!" She stopped pacing, stamping her foot as she finished. Before the blond could say anything, she added, the sugar obviously controlling her mouth, "And I don't care if he _does_ make some of the most adorable children _ever_! I can't let him try to trick me by messing around in my head like this!"

"But I thought you said he wasn't doing anything to your dreams..." Christine decided that was the safest line of reasoning to follow at the moment. If she went after the whole "adorable children" thing, they'd never get to bed...

"Yes, well...He has to be doing _something_! There is no way that I would _ever_ dream of his...or our...My brain would never dream up something like that!" Sarah's eyes had widened as she'd defended herself.

Christine could understand that the girl was not having a good time of things. She was dreaming about her future children, whose father just happened to be one of her least favorite people. Even though the opera singer could see the attraction between them, from both sides, the brunette was fighting it with all her might, as she'd been doing for quite some time. Putting her hand gently on her friend's shoulder, she led her back to the couch. Getting her to sit, she said, "I think you should stop worrying about what might happen in the future." As Sarah began to argue, she stopped her, adding, "Tomorrow is tomorrow. At the moment, you don't like him. However, anybody can tell that he really likes you...If something is meant to happen, then it will. If it's not, then they'll never exist. They'll just stay figments of your imagination. And, one day, when you _do_ have children, they'll fade away and you'll forget all about them."

As she spoke, she watched Sarah's face. It went from defensive to pensive. Then, after the blond had finished speaking, she saw a look of sadness drift through the girl's eyes.

"That's the worst part, Chris...I don't want them to just fade away. They look so happy! It's what they stand for that freaks me out. I can't forget what he did. If I forget, then I forgive him...He did so many things, back then. He was mean and spiteful, and now he's back, thinking it will all just go away! Well, it's not going to!"

Christine hugged her silently, letting the girl cry her tears out. "You need to go to bed, Sarah. We both have class tomorrow, and drinking an illegal amount of Monster is not going to help you."

Sniffling, the brunette nodded rather sullenly. "I know...I just don't want them to be there. Every time I dream about them, it just hurts more."

The apartment grew silent as both young women closed their bedroom doors. Lying awake, Sarah stared at the ceiling. Finally, after almost an hour, her eyes drifted shut. As the night passed by, no children haunted her dreams and no Goblin Kings held her close. Opening her eyes the next morning, she wasn't sure how to feel.

Sitting up, she heard a voice behind her say, "Didn't I tell you, precious? I would protect them, even from their own mother."

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><p>Reviews ^.^ Please and thank you!<p> 


	5. Dreamless Sleep

A/N: Here's the next installment. Jareth has become protective, and perhaps slightly disappointed. But can you really blame Sarah for the way she's acting? I mean, in the movie, he was her nemesis, and even in Pika-la-Cynique's wecomic there's still a bit of tension there (albeit it's a little more than good v. bad now). Anyway, please enjoy.

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><p>How long Jareth had been watching her, she didn't know. However, when his unmistakable voice spoke from the corner, she spun around to face him. "What do you think you're doing in here?" her words came out slightly flustered. "And what do you mean, you'll 'protect them'?"<p>

His face was rather stony as he looked at her. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he was disappointed in her. But that was silly...She hadn't done anything!

He pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning against, saying as he did so, "Remember, the walls in this building are not the thickest. Nor are either you or Miss Daae the quietest when you're upset about something."

It took her a moment, but then it hit her. "You heard me last night?"

"Well, it was hard to miss. You were using quite a number of words to describe me, after all. I thought it only right to pay attention, seeing that you were obviously displeased about something." He stopped when he reached the far side of her bed.

"You still haven't answered my question though," she pointed out, warily eyeing him as he stood only a few feet away.

"I gave you a dreamless sleep, precious. You seemed quite adamant, after all. I didn't want you doing something rash in the middle of the night." His face was deadly serious, which was something that always made her feel as though she were still fifteen and foolishly wishing little brothers away to the goblins.

"But I thought you weren't involved with those dreams," now she was getting suspicious. Had he lied to her before?

"I wasn't. But as soon as you told me about them, they _became _my business."

"How in the world do you see that?" now her arms were crossed, although she hadn't yet stood up.

Then he walked around the bed and she scrambled to her feet, not wanting him to have the added advantage of too much extra height. "Your dreams, my children." His face was blank, waiting for her response.

All she managed to do was splutter indignantly.

"And if you _dare_ say it, Sarah, I will not be held accountable for my actions." His voice was growling again. She was beginning to hate it when he did that. Her stomach always did a funny flip-flop when it heard his voice sink lower in irritation.

"Why are you so determined to involve yourself with this particular set of dreams, Jareth?" now she just sounded tired, as though she'd lived much longer than she actually had.

She was caught off guard when one of his arms came out and wrapped itself around her waist. Holding her still, he brought his face closer to hers. "Because, sweet, whether you want to hear it or not, I very much like the idea of holding you in my arms every night and of watching you nurse my child. And I'm sorry for interfering in what you think of as nothing more than silly dreams your mind has somehow created, but I'm finding myself rather captivated by them."

Never sure how to handle the Goblin King when he went all manly and protective, she attempted to push him away. Having him say things like that while holding her created strange sensations in her heart which she didn't want to investigate too closely.

He didn't let her say anything, though, tightening his hold her on slightly while adding,his mouth now stationed near her ear, "So I'll keep them safely with me for the time being, and you can have your dreamless sleep...If you ever find yourself missing them, you have only to say so, and I'll grant you dreams once more."

As his breath had whispered over her ear, one of her hands had risen to grasp his shoulder. And then, before she could say anything else, he'd released her and was gone. All that was left was the lingering warmth from his hand at her waist and the ghostly remnant of his voice at her ear. Sitting down with a soft _thump_ on the mattress, she stared into nothing. He'd taken them away, just like that? She hadn't wanted him to take them away...she'd merely been afraid of becoming too attached to them when she knew she would never actually get to cuddle them or feel their arms wrap around her in a bear hug. But if she asked for them back, would that be the equivalent of allowing him to believe they had a future together? Sarah rubbed her face, unsure of what to do now...

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><p>Yeah, I know it's short, but some of these stories don't come out thousands of words at a time. And yes, in my mind, if he can give her dreams, then he should be able to keep dreams from her. Seeing how that is, he is now "protecting" his dream children by not allowing her to dream them at all. As he explained to her, he doesn't want her doing something rash. But, as we know, Sarah Williams has done many rash things, like calling the Labyrinth a "piece of cake." Reviews are very nice to see ^.^<p> 


	6. Devious Plotting

A/N: Here you go! Please don't hate me because it's short! I just really liked how it ends and the whole point of this chapter was to basically relieve some of the tension that had built up over the last few...With that said and your interest now _severely _arrested, enjoy!

Also, if anyone is curious, the song I refer to at the end is linked in my profile.

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><p>Jareth sat on the edge of his bed, knowing he'd probably hurt Sarah more than he realized with his actions. Women were always just a <em>tad<em> difficult to read, but that particular female had been deliciously stumping him for quite some time. However, at the moment, he was fighting the urge to go ask her pardon...After all, he'd more than likely not helped his case by suppressing her dreams like that. Granted, he felt he had viable reasons for acting as he had. He had been telling the truth about hearing her the night before. Although he had to admit that he'd listened a little closer after he'd realized what she was stomping around up there for.

While he knew better than to act without thinking, he'd done a wonderful job of it when she'd gone to bed. His first thought had been to make sure she didn't use "her right words", as she'd once called them. That girl had more than enough of those to last them _all_ a lifetime! She also didn't have the best track record when it came to making wishes...So, in a fit of pure, instinctual fear, he'd reached out to her and locked up the portion of her mind which dreamt.

Now she was probably searching for ways to remove his innards and good recipes for roasting them...Standing he muttered to himself that he really should think certain of his actions through before rushing off to be the hero.

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><p>Upstairs, Sarah was actually <em>not<em> scouring the Web for good recipes on how to make Goblin King Spaghetti and Meat Balls. Instead, she was blinking away tears.

"Stop it, stop it, _stop it_!" she yelled at herself in a whisper. Christine was out in the kitchen, and her roommate did _not_ need to know about this little development. She wasn't sure if the girl would tell her it was for the best, or if she'd march down to tell Jareth off...One could never tell with opera singers, after all.

Running a hand through her hair, she took a deep breath. The more she thought about it, the more the little logical side of herself saw it as a good thing. After all, if she couldn't dream about them, she'd forget about them. Wasn't that for the best? Christine herself had just suggested it the night before. However, as soon as that portion of her brain had its say, the other side, the one full of her favorite fairy tales and happy endings popped out and shamed her with, "They're just children, Sarah..." The fact that she was using Jareth's own words against herself didn't pass notice, but what was she supposed to do? He...she...they were right!

In that moment of inner combat, the only thing she could think to say was, "Stupid, slimy, rat toad, git, sore loosing, snake throwing, glitter poofing, baby stealing _idiot_." After breathing deeply for a second, she added, "Anger...anger is good! Get angry, Sarah. He's done this before, hasn't he? If he's taken them away, then you can get them back...No...wait...That's not what I want! Aargh!" Now she was confusing herself. Alright, so anger wasn't the best option at the moment. If that wasn't, then what was?

Pacing quietly back and forth before the mirror, she finally snapped her fingers and whispered to herself, "If he wants a reaction, then I won't give him one! Instead, I'll think about them during the day...yeah...and then, when I go to sleep, it won't matter, because I'll be remembering them where he can't go!"

Applauding herself for the sheer brilliance that was her mind, Sarah went about getting ready for class. Humming to herself, she hopped through the kitchen on her way out of the apartment, snagging an apple as she went.

As the door closed behind her, Christine stared at it, asking the now empty apartment, "Why in the name of Beethoven's Ninth is she humming _Carmen_?

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><p>Reviews, reviews, reviews...Please and thank you!<p> 


	7. Give Them Back

A/N: Sorry it took so long...I've been distracted with other stuff. However, this story is still one of the two longer fanfics that I'm working on, so it _is_ a priority (so far as a fanfic can be a priority). Please enjoy ^.^

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><p>It was late afternoon when the knock brought Erik out of his room. Pulling the door open, he was surprised, and not a little excited, to see Christine standing on the other side. However, his joy at finding his favorite opera singer knocking on their apartment door ended on a rather sour note when she asked if Jareth was around.<p>

Erik positioned himself in the corner, which did not go unnoticed by the young woman. Rolling her eyes, she watched as Jareth entered the room, trailing glitter like others would dust.

"I thought I should warn you," Christine told him, her eyes searching for any telltale sign that he had done something to her roommate.

"Warn me about what, Miss Daae?" asked the blond man, perching himself on the arm of the sofa.

"Sarah downed multiple Monsters last night, before going to bed literally _covered_ in angst...This morning, though, she left the apartment humming _Carmen_."

"By _Carmen_, you mean...?" His eyes had gotten slightly larger at that bit of information.

Christine proceeded to hum the first few bars. The color dropped from Jareth's cheeks quicker than candy from a pinata. Both musicians blinked as his face blanched.

Christine couldn't help asking, "What did you do, Jareth?"

Standing from the couch arm, his face a white, frozen mask, he spun and disappeared.

"Well obviously something," she muttered to herself as Erik tried to get her to stay for tea.

"But we're French, Erik," she reminded him as she pulled the apartment door open. "It's the Brits who take tea." Closing the door on his protestations, she made good her escape.

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><p>Jareth, by this time, was sitting in a tree, his feathers ruffled and his eyes staring. The focus of his attention was the dark haired young woman doing her homework just on the other side of the window.<p>

Been humming _Carmen_, had she? His mind held on to that thought and waved it before his eyes every few seconds. She hadn't made any wishes, so what had made her so happy? Was she _glad_ he'd taken her dreams away? Had he walked right into some type of dastardly trap? A little voice in the back of his head laughed at that...He was so confused!

When she finally put her pen down, he shuffled closer to the tree's trunk. No need for her to get suspicious, after all.

She didn't stand from her chair, however. She just sat there, chin propped up in one hand, as her eyes stared off into nothing. He hated when she did that...Day dreams were a bit of a misnomer. He could see dreams while people slept, and he could find out people's deepest desires, but day dreams were merely the mind wandering. It was a conscious thought process, not an unconscious one...His feathers ruffled themselves up a bit more.

Her eyes glazed over just a bit, but only far enough so that his probing magic could hear, as though from a great distance, children's laughter. With a jerk, the owl, with an undignified _squawk_, fell clean out of the tree. Hitting the ground, although now in his human form, he gawked up at the window in amazement. Why that little...He couldn't help but be slightly impressed. How had she know that he couldn't interact with conscious day dreams?

Sighing, he stood up and dusted himself off. More than likely, she'd had no idea and was merely operating out of sheer bullheadedness. Granted, it was one of the things he loved about her, but still! He had quit clearly told her the one thing she had to do in order to get her dreams back. All that was required was a request. Not a wish, not a demand, merely an everyday request.

Not caring if Erik yelled at him for be-glittering their apartment, he _poofed_ back into his room. Standing next to his bed, he pulled a crystal out of the air and moved it along the back of his hand a time or two. He continued his earlier thought process out loud.

"Knowing Sarah, I won't hear a word about them if she can just sit there and think them up..." He ran his other hand through his hair as he watched the moving crystal slide back and forth. "But that means _I_ can't see them at all! Blasted, brilliant, little minx..." Grabbing the crystal, he squeezed it until it popped like a bubble.

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><p>Several nights passed, and Jareth heard nothing from the upstairs apartment. Sarah's dreamless sleep didn't seem to be bothering her in the least. He, however, was finding it quite difficult to drift off. After the second night, he took to flying around town for a few hours, hoping it would make him tired enough to finally doze. It rarely worked. The only reason he could see for his insomnia involved the absence of his children. Granted, they weren't his children <em>yet<em>, but he had high hopes that they were a wonderful vision of what the future might hold. As the nights dragged on, he found himself searching for some reason why Sarah wouldn't just ask to have them back...Surely thinking about them during the day was a pale substitution for dreaming about them at night.

Finally, after a week like that, he'd had enough. He was starting to get bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and she was much too cheerful about the whole affair! Not even bothering to put his shirt on, he poofed into the hallway outside her bedroom. He knew better than to just appear inside her room without first checking that she was asleep. He lost the element of surprise when that happened, and he was at his best when he had that particular element on his side.

Pushing the door open quietly, he reached out with a small tendril of his magic. She was indeed asleep, though not as soundly as was her norm. Closing the door behind him, he moved silently nearer, coming to a stop only when he could look straight down at her. She was curled onto her side, facing away from him. Her hair was spread out on her pillow, leaving her pale neck exposed to the night air. While her breathing was even, he could sense only the emptiness of a dreamless sleep within her mind. While he had been the one to make it so, he found he didn't like it at all.

Reaching out, he allowed his, for once bare, hand to smooth through her silky hair. At his touch, she moved slightly, though not quite waking all the way. Leaning over her, he watched her face as he touched her hair once more. This time her eyes opened, revealing bleary green eyes, clouded with sleep. As they honed in on his face, he saw a most distressing sight.

Tears pooled there and then slid down her cheeks, one at a time. Obviously still half asleep, she reached up to him with one of her arms, wrapping it around his neck as she sniffled. "Why did you take them away, Jareth?"

"To protect them," he murmured, leaning down and risking a small kiss on her cheek. He came away tasting the slight saltiness of her tears on his lips.

"But what about me? Why won't you protect me, too? I thought you loved me..." His eyes grew wide as she rambled on. Something about the way she said it made him think she was confusing the real him with the dream him.

"Sarah..." she didn't let him get any farther than that.

"I want to see my children, Jareth!" It wasn't the request he'd been anticipating, and he wasn't sure it truly counted, since she was still half-asleep, but the cry speared him through the heart.

"I..."

"Please, Jareth," she said, sitting up a little more so that she could wrap her other arm around his neck, as well. "Bring our children back..."

If it was physically possible for a heart to crack open, his did at that softly intoned request. She was so vulnerable in that moment, he wanted to curl her into his side and protect her from everything.

Sighing, he pulled her arms from his neck, tucking her back in and then leaning down once more, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Go back to sleep, Sarah..."

As he turned to leave, her hand grabbed his arm as her voice, fully awake and alert said, "You said all I had to do was ask, Jareth. Now give them back."

Shocked, he jerked his head around to stare at her over his shoulder. "You're awake?"

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><p>Cliffhanger what? Reviews will get you another chapter ^.^ Reviews let me know somebody out there is reading this and enjoying it!<p> 


	8. Gloves!

A/N: I know...you got all excited because the last chapter was longer...Sorry ^.^ In a reaction to that, this one is shorter! However, it contains interesting information, which is always vitally important! Please enjoy!

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><p>Sarah's green eyes were sharp as they stared up at him. A trace of tears was just just barely discernible along her cheek, but she didn't bother to reach up and wipe it away. He'd caught her in that half-waking, half-sleeping mode she seemed to live in these days. Her nights had been...bland since he'd taken the dreams away. She knew she had no right to complain. After all, it had been <em>her<em> loud mouth which had gotten them into this mess. However, she hoped she was just slightly more mature now then she'd been at fifteen. With that in mind, she said again. "Give them back."

Jareth's mismatched eyes, which had been wide and shocked, managed to somehow get even wider. His face took on an almost cartoonish cast as he spluttered for a moment or two. "How long have you been awake?"

His question merely made her sigh and sit up. Drawing her legs towards herself until she was sitting cross-legged, she pulled her hair over one shoulder. "Is that really the important part of this conversation, Jareth?"

"Yes, it bloody well is! What was _that_ all about?" At his question, he waved his hand vaguely in her direction.

"But you do that all the time, Jareth...You've done that since the beginning of whatever this relationship would be called. And don't you even dare _try_ to claim otherwise." Her blunt command shut his mouth fast enough she heard the snap his teeth made. "You've been playing games since that day when you took Toby, so what's wrong with me joining in?"

He was now looking at her as though she'd grown antlers and was dancing the cha-cha.

"And I don't want to hear any nonsense about it being because I'm the heroine and you're the villain, either." It was as though she could read his mind, which was freaking him out slightly.

Feeling a little as though the ground had crumbled beneath him, he sought for solid footing again. "But why playact? All you had to do was ask..."

Her face, or what he could see of it in the scant light coming from the window, seemed to flush slightly. "Well, I..."

Much preferring _her_ flustered to himself, he latched onto her fumbling reply. "You weren't _going_ to ask at all, were you? You were just going to go on day dreaming and getting what sleep you could, weren't you?"

His accusations obviously hit home, for her face closed even more. "Wouldn't you, Jareth? You just popped in and gave me an ultimatum..."

"Then why did you ask?" He was curious to hear her answer.

"You woke me up and I just sort of decided I might as well try. But know this, Goblin King, even though I want my dreams back, I'm not giving you any type of permission, _whatsoever_," and at this glared in his direction, "to read into it."

Sighing he rubbed his face with his hand, saying, "Sarah, why won't you just-"

She interrupted him before he could finish his thought, however, by pointing and exclaiming, "Oh my gosh! You aren't wearing gloves!"

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><p><strong>This was suggested by Shiroikami as an alternate ending including an actual Legolas. I nearly died laughing when I read it, so you all get the chance to read it, too!<strong>

"Suddenly Legolas popped up outside the window (gods only know what he was doing out there... and how he was levitating several stories off the ground) his eyes wide. 'Hark! The Goblin King doth not be wearing his gloves and the art's gone all straight and stuff!' he proclaimed. Sarah looked at Jareth's hands, and, sure enough, it was the truth. The Goblin King wasn't wearing his gloves. But what had the elf meant about the art going straight? Sarah glanced back at the window, but Legolas had already vanished. (In an elaborate topiary a dozen or so feet straight down and conveniently placed below our heroine's window, the twitching hands and feet of Legolas could be seen...)"

**Now tell me that isn't perfect? Love it!**

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><p>And here we go again ^.^ I follow Pika's lead in that, when things get too heavy, you throw in a Legolas. And for those you who are unfamiliar with the Girls Next Door crossover 'verse, he seems to pop in when things need to lighten up just a <em>tad<em>. Reviews feed my hungry tummy!


	9. Traitor!

A/N: *gasp* No gloves? Why would that be important? Honestly, I couldn't tell you, but I do know this: there's something about his hands that he doesn't want her to see...Whatever could it be?

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><p>At her exclamation, which completely obliterated the serious mood that had wrapped itself around them, he thrust his hands behind his back. As she reached for him, he did the only thing a self-respecting king <em>could <em>do. He disappeared. Appearing next to his bed in a shower of surprised glitter, he quickly pulled on his favorite pair of black leather gloves. "Of course she would notice _that_," he muttered to himself. "Not the fact that I was shirtless, no...But the fact that I'd forgotten to put these back on?" The lack of gloves alone should have told her how off-balance he'd been the last few days.

Sarah was left half-on, half-off her bed, hand extended towards the now empty spot that the Goblin King had so quickly vacated. She was shocked, to say the least. In all the years she'd known him, not _once_ had she seen him sans gloves. Even the time Crowley and Angel had dumped her on him when she'd been dead drunk, he'd been wearing gloves. In a way, she'd come to just assume the stupid things were merely part of his hands...Like Davy Jones with his peg leg or Erik with his mask.

Even though she hadn't gotten a very good look, what she _had_ seen assured her that they weren't deformed, so why he would freak out quite so much when she'd mentioned them, she had no idea.

Deciding she might as well work on some homework, seeing that he'd probably forgotten to release her dreams, she let herself fall the rest of the way out of bed. Stretching, she felt her back pop. Sitting down at her desk with a huff, she pulled the nearest book towards her. Flipping it open, she grabbed her notebook. Groaning when she got to the proper page, she rubbed her hands over her eyes.

She'd forgotten about that...Sometime during her English class the day before, she'd started doodling in her notes. Three small faces stared back up at her from amidst the possible meanings of Robert Frost's _The Road Not Taken. _Then, as she read back over the poem they were supposed to be explicating, she groaned again.

"Who cares which road you take? Honestly, it's not that big a deal! And maybe I don't _want_ to take 'the road less traveled.' Did anybody ever think about that? What if I just want to find some _normal_ guy and have a_ normal_ life with him! Why does everybody think I should end up with _him_? Stupid poem...stupid poet...stupid _dreams_!" Slamming the book shut, she sat there, her arms crossed, as she glared at her reflection in the window. She looked like a frustrated three year old. Not wanting to look at herself anymore, she allowed her head to fall forward, banging it onto the desk. She sat like that for about a minute before blowing out a sighing breath and pushing herself backwards. Standing, she left her room and walked into the dark kitchen. Pulling open the refrigerator door, she stared at the rabbit food Christine insisted on eating. Walking back down the hallway, she carefully and quietly opened the door to the linen closet. Digging around in the spare blankets, she grabbed one of the cans she'd stashed there.

Plopping down on the couch, she popped the top of the Monster and took a swig. "Ahhh..." she sighed, just as the light flicked on.

"I _knew_ you had more of that stuff around here somewhere," came the unmistakable voice of her roommate.

"Oh, leave me alone, Chris!" Sarah exclaimed, taking another gulp of the green liquid.

"What happened _now_? And don't argue with me that nothing did! I know you only drink those things when Jareth's done something."

Blinking, Sarah realized she was right. Holding the can out a bit, she looked at it before giggling. "Does seem appropriate, doesn't it?"

Christine rolled her eyes as she tightened the sash of her robe. "Spill."

Sarah sat there, remaining stubbornly silent. She didn't feel like sharing this newest development with her French roomie. For some reason, she knew that seeing Jareth's hands was a big deal. Why else would he literally _live_ with gloves on? And then there was his reaction when she'd mentioned it. It kind of reminded her of the time Erik had squawked directly into his ear. The Goblin King had disappeared in a cloud of glitter large enough to coat the entire chair he'd been reading in.

Christine, however, was not, apparently, going to give up _that_ easily. She sat in the armchair and just stared at her dark haired friend.

Doing her best to ignore the girl, Sarah sat nursing the energy drink and staring at the wall. Ignoring her only worked so well for so long, though. Christine had the amazing ability to send out a questioning _aura_. It could seep through walls, push its way through ceilings and floors, and basically intrude with an eerie proficiency all lives around it.

Sarah finally dragged her eyes away from the wall and met her roomie's. The opera singer was looking at her with an overly angelic expression. Sighing disgustedly, Sarah sank deeper into the couch cushions. "Why do you want to know, exactly?"

Christine seemed caught off guard, and, for a moment, Miss Williams thought she caught a glimpse of a guilty conscious peeking through. Perking up, Sarah leaned forward and asked, "Better question: What have you been up to?"

"Me?" Christine squeaked, which was a very strange noise to hear coming from such a musically inclined person.

At this obvious indication of meddling on her roommate's part, Sarah reached forward and, with a deliberately controlled movement, placed the can of Monster, still half-full, down on the coffee table.

This sent Christine out of her chair fast enough that Sarah had to climb over the _back_ of the couch to stop her from sprinting down the short hallway. "In the immortal words of a French opera singer: spill."

Christine's eyes were round in her pale face as she searched for an escape route. With Sarah standing, ready for a fight, before her, the only way out available was the apartment door and the hallway beyond.

As if sensing her roomie's desperate thoughts, Sarah intoned, "Don't even try, Daae...I will _so_ win that battle."

Finally giving a defeated sigh, rather disgusted with herself for loosing so easily, Christine returned to her chair. Sarah perched, in a very familiar manner, on the sofa arm and waited.

"I might have..."the rest was said so softly that Sarah doubted if even the Phantom could have heard it, and his sense of hearing was a bit creepy.

"Say again?" she stated.

"I..."

"Christine."

"I told Jareth that you were acting strange," this time it came out in a rush, followed by two delicate hands raised to shield a blond head.

"You squealed to the enemy?" Sarah shrieked. "Traitor!"

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><p>Reviews! I will write for reviews! ^.^<p> 


	10. Glitter

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter ^.^ This one's covered in glitter, which should really be a controlled substance where Jareth is concerned...Please enjoy!

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><p>The next morning, Sarah refused to look at her roommate. The blond tried to get her attention once or twice, but then gave up. Christine could tell, thanks to the freezing temperature of the apartment, that she was not anywhere <em>near<em> Sarah's good graces. Sighing quietly to herself, she gathered her things and left the building. Maybe working on a few melancholy operas would make her feel better.

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><p>Sarah sat nursing her coffee, curled up in the armchair. She was in no mood to go listen to a lecture on Frost...again. Their explications of that stupid poem weren't due until Friday, so she'd not put herself through another round of torture before she had to.<p>

As she calmed down over the next hour, her mind wandered from the singer's duplicity to her stalker's secret. She wasn't supposed to open the box under his bed, but he had said nothing about the gloves...And she was still trying to come up with a way to remind him that she'd asked for her dreams back before he'd so ignominiously _poofed_ away.

Sighing and stretching, she took her coffee cup into the kitchen before heading off to take a shower. After getting dressed and wrapping her hair up in a towel, she reentered the living room. However, she'd barely made it two feet when she found herself partially covered in glitter. Spinning around, she glowered up at the straight face of the Goblin King.

"Stop doing that!" she shrieked, attempting to brush the sparkling dust from her outfit. "I know as well as you that the glitter is _not_ a necessary part of your poofing."

"Now is that anyway to greet the man who's going to give you your dreams back?" His head tilted to one side as he advanced a step closer.

Still trying to shake more of the dust off, she snorted. "You could do that from upstairs, Jareth. So poof on back up there. Go on...Shoo!" She waved her hands in his direction, acting as though he were in his owl form.

"Shoo?" he asked, his tone suddenly crisp and abrupt. If Sarah had been paying attention, she would have backed up a bit. As it was, she remained focused on searching for anymore glitter, which meant she didn't take note of his flat tone.

"Yeah...go-", she was cut off abruptly when two, glove covered, hands grabbed her upper arms and bore her back until she felt the hallway wall behind her. She stared up at the Goblin King, her green eyes slightly shocked. The maneuver had been quick enough that the towel on her head had fallen off, leaving her damp hair hanging half in her face.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" she demanded, struggling as much as possible. "Let go of me!" She stopped moving, however, when she caught sight of his eyes. They were filled with frustration and disappointment.

"What have I done now, Jareth?" she met his eyes boldly. "You know I hate it when you show up unannounced and spread glitter all over..."

His grip didn't loosen, nor did his gaze lighten.

Sarah fought the urge to squirm. When he acted like a king, she always felt like a child. Opening her mouth to once again demand he release her, he cut her off.

"I am not an animal for you to wave away, precious. Nor am I some piece of slime for you to turn your nose up at. I came to see you in order to offer you back what I had taken and you react like a petty, spoiled brat." His mismatched eyes were as hard as stone as they stared into her own. "Now, do you want me to give us _both_ back our children, or not?"

She stood there, struck dumb by the forcefulness of his comments. "You..." Sarah couldn't even come up with an answer to his question. What did he mean, give them _both_ back their children? "You were..._watching_?" Even as she asked, she already knew his answer and she was horrified! At the thought, she bristled up like an angry cat. Green eyes flashing, she raised both arms just enough to place them flat against his chest. Giving him a push, she felt his hands contract on her arms, which meant she was pulled along. Now it was Jareth, though, who had his back to the wall.

Glaring up at him, she fisted her hands in his shirt and demanded, "What right do you have? What right? You invade my apartment, you manhandle me, you watch my dreams, and then you take them away! Why can't you take the hint, Goblin King?"

The power he possessed snapped in his eyes and danced down his arms. She could feel it tingle through her from the place where his gloved hands gripped her. "Why should I, precious? You won't."

"Me? Don't you dare turn this around on me!"

"Why not? You do it to me almost every time we have a conversation!"

"Oh, shut up! And no, I don't!"

"Yes, you do..."

"No!"

"Yes."

"Stop it!"

"_You_ stop it."

Sarah could feel a growl forming in the back of her throat, but it never had a chance to be heard. Before she could do more than rear back, his hands jerked her forward and lips landed on hers . As the moments passed, she found herself stiffening, then relaxing. The only other time he'd kissed her, he'd poofed her away to class before she could do more than register she'd been kissed. This time, however, she wasn't going anywhere. And neither was he, apparently.

When he finally drew away, her eyes were huge as they met his. Leaning back down, he nuzzled against her neck, which vaguely reminded her of a dream she'd had, and said, "And that is only one of the _many_ reasons I want you to be my queen..."

"Because you can kiss me?" Sarah spluttered, struggling again.

He chuckled, which she could easily feel. "No, Sarah, although I very much enjoy that, as well. You _fight_ with me. You'll grab me by my shirt collar and tell me I'm an idiot!"

"And that just proves how _weird_ you are, Jareth..."

He laughed and pulled back, looking down at her.

"And I'm not going to be your queen!" Sarah said it as forcefully as she could, but the kiss was obviously still affecting her, for it came a bit weak.

"Whatever you say, precious," Jareth said, a knowing smile on his face.

Before she could offer a retort, he poofed away, once again leaving her covered in glitter. Muttering to herself as she stomped into the bathroom, she let out a howl after looking in the mirror. Her still damp hair shone, thanks to the glitter which was coating it. "Jaaarrrreeetttthhh!"

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><p>*giggle* Can anyone say "fanservice". Anyway, reviews all you lovely people ^.^ Thankies!<p> 


	11. Girl Bonding Time

A/N: In which Christine learns the payment for her squealing ^.^

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><p>Christine opened the apartment door as quietly as possible. Having lived with Sarah for as long as she had, she knew to watch out if the girl was upset. Hoping her anger had dissipated during the hours she'd been gone , making sure to shut the door silently. Turning back to face the apartment, she nearly ran into the very person she'd been hoping to avoid.<p>

"Sarah!" her voice was higher than she would have liked as she brought he music up to shield her head.

The girl in question snorted and grabbed her arm, dragging the blond farther into the room. "I'm not going to hit you, Chris."

"Really?" Christine asked, moving the song books just enough so she could see the girl's face.

"Would you like me to?" Sarah raised an eyebrow as the other shrunk down again.

All the singer did in response was shake her head in the negative vigorously as possible.

"Good, now listen up. Go change…we're going out for dinner." Sarah pointed toward the hallway, but Christine could only stand and stare at her.

"What?" the music student finally managed to splutter.

"We're gong out to eat?"

"Why?"

"Because we need some 'girl bonding time'." Sarah said, her face carefully blank.

"Oookkkaaayyy…" Christine said, drawing out each letter to show that she was a little lost.

"Now go on."

Christine didn't bother arguing, but she had to fight the urge to point out how much the girl's stalker who was rubbing off on her. But, then again, that would make Chris a goblin…She shook her head and opened her closet.

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><p>Forty-five minutes later, the girls were sitting in a busy restaurant, one with just the right amount of noise to keep the scrying toms at bay.<p>

"Now, what was this really about, Sarah?" Christine asked after they'd ordered.

"You, little miss tattle tale, are going to help me with something," Sarah informed her roommate blithely.

"I'm going to do _what_?" asked Christine, putting the drink she'd been raising to her mouth back on the table with a clink. "Please _do not_ tell me that this somehow involves a certain glitter throwing royal…Sarah, I beg you!" The blond's face held just a hint of terror at the prospect.

"No can do, roomie…"

"But _why_? Well…why this time, anyway?"

"He put glitter in my hair when it was wet…"

"Oh, you know, I was wondering why it was giving off faint hints of sparkle."

Sarah shot the girl a dirty look, which the singer wisely took as a hint to zip it.

"I've washed it four, count them 'four' times, and it's _still_ there!" Anyone could tell the college student was frustrated…The vein popping on her forehead only helped accentuate the fact.

"Wow…he must have been trying to prove a point."

"No, he pretty much had _proved _it; this was more the exclamation point at the end." Sarah drew the mark in the air as she said it, jabbing her finger forward as she finished.

"You're going to have to fill me in here, Sarah…I've been out of the loop for several chapters now, so I'm just _slightly_ lost." Christine brought her hand up and rubbed the side of her face.

"Right…ummm…Okay. You know about the dreams."

Christine nodded.

"You know they were starting to freak me out."

Christine nodded.

"You know that he overheard part of the conversation that night and gave me a dreamless sleep."

Christine was gapping like a wide mouthed bass.

"So, that would be a no?" Sarah's face had an expression which clearly meant 'obviously'.

"What do you mean 'gave you a dreamless sleep'?" Their food had arrived at some point prior to her imitation of a fish, but she ignored it. Sarah, however, dug into her spaghetti eagerly.

"Means he locked my dreams away. The night ones, anyway." She speared a meat ball, sticking the whole thing into her mouth at once.

Christine was so focused on the girl's words that she didn't say anything about the poor manners, or the fact that her roomie was doing a fine imitation of a goblin.

"But that still doesn't explain why you tangoed your way out of the apartment humming _Carmen_…And you do realize that the song you were pounding away to is about a woman who's trying to seduce a guy, right?"

Sarah blanched a little, but recovered quickly. "Actually, no…I didn't. But thanks for telling me…Anyway," she shook her head, trying to push the images the idea had created away, "I've been trying to beat him at his own game, but now sleep's just…well…boring."

Christine could only nod, finally picking up her fork to start eating. There were times, _many_ times, when she was glad her stalker was merely a slightly murderous psycho, and not a magical Goblin King who spewed glitter around for fun. Granted, Christine had to deal with having _two_ men follow her around . Sarah just had…Jareth. On second thought, two humans were _much_ better than a Jareth.

"So what's happened _now_? I mean, why did he cover your wet head in glitter?"

"Well, he'd kissed me before that."

"…"

"But we'd had an argument first."

"…"

"And he'd already _partially _covered me in glitter when he poofed in."

"…"

"So I obviously wasn't thrilled, and-are you even listening?"

"You _kissed_?"

"Are you still all the way back there?" Sarah proceeded to bang her head against the table a time or two, earning rather startled looks from a few of the other diners.

"It's just…the Goblin King finally got around to kissing you?" Christine was mystified. What she wouldn't have given to see _that_.

"Yes. But the fist time was awhile back, and it has nothing _whatever_ to do with this story arc, so don't lead us all down a rabbit trail!"

"We will be talking about his later, young lady," Christine informed her before adding, "Did anything else happen that I should know about?"

Sarah's next comment sent her eyebrows _into_ her hair. "I've seen him without gloves."

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><p>Reviews, ya'll! Thanks!<p> 


	12. Protective Papa

A/N: This one was rather...interesting to write. I actually thought about scraping it and trying again. However, there were some redeemable qualities in the original idea, so I told myself to stop being lazy and just spend some time on it. Well, it didn't turn out _to _bad... Please enjoy!

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><p>The first sneeze didn't overly bother Jareth. Or the second. However, by the sixth, he began to get just a little suspicious. By that point, he was glad Erik was at a meeting for the college's music faculty. If he had been present, the large amount of glitter each sneeze brought with it would have sent him into fits. The masked man just couldn't appreciate the stuff…<p>

However, James Norrington, who was working on something a few feet away, did his best to take Erik's place. "What in the world?" He exclaimed after the eight attack sent glitter into his face.

Jareth's only response was another resounding "Achoo!"

"For the love of – Someone's having a _great_ time talking about you, aren't they?" The Englishman picked up the stack of papers and shook them, watching copious amounts of glitter fall out.

If James had been paying attention, he would have seen Jareth's mismatched eyes fly wide, right before another sneeze grabbed him. This time, he nearly shot off the couch, it was so forceful. As he settled back into the cushions, the book he'd been holding forgotten, he smiled in a rather predatory way, showing quite a number of teeth. "Sarah…"

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><p>Christine and Sarah returned to their apartment around ten that evening, neither mentioning their dinner out. The living room was dark, although there was enough light coming in through the windows for them to make it into their respective rooms with no mishaps. They had agreed, Christine reluctantly, that they wouldn't talk about The Operation without precautions. It wouldn't do to be overheard, after all.<p>

By midnight, Sarah was in bed and drifting towards sleep. She was curious to see whether or not her dreams really _were_ back. A part of her hoped they were, but another part wasn't sure if she could trust the Goblin King…and that made her feel all of fifteen again.

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><p>Sarah was brushing her oldest daughter's blond hair in an attempt to give it some semblance of order. However, it just wasn't working. The girl's hair was too much like her father's. After another few minutes of this, Sarah gave up, sending the child down to the kitchen for breakfast.<p>

The baby, her green eyes curious, was half-sitting, half-standing in her crib when the woman entered the nursery. "Good morning, bright eyes!" Sarah said, reaching down and picking her up. The little girl kept firm grip on the little stuffed goblin her father had given her when she was born. They probably had as many goblin toys and dolls around the house as there were actual goblins.

When mother and baby entered the kitchen a little while later, it was to see the illustrious Goblin King making pancakes while two goblins squeezed orange juice by the sink. Granted, there seemed to be nearly as much of the liquid on the counter and floor as was in the pitcher, but Sarah knew better than to make a fuss. The little creatures would clean it up, for the most part, when they were done.

After breakfast was over, the twins ran out the backdoor, intent on finding the secret passageway inside the castle play set. Jareth had assured them there was one, although they were still a little skeptical. Sarah knew better than to underestimate her husband, though. There might not have been one _before_ breakfast, but there probably was one now.

While the goblins set about tiding everything up, which always involved one or two things getting smashed, Jareth took the baby out onto the back porch. He would keep the three occupied for awhile so she could get a bit of work done on her latest book. She listened for a moment as he started reading the baby a story. If the other two hadn't been so intent on pulling at every stone within reach, they would have been sitting and listening, too. Sarah had to admit, the man knew how to tell a story…

Making herself comfortable, she smiled before beginning to proof read. If anyone had asked her whether Jareth, the Goblin King, would have made a good husband and father, she'd have laughed in their face before asking if they needed to see a doctor. Reality was pleasantly surprising.

An hour or so later, she walked out to stand beside her husband and now sleeping daughter. The other two had finally managed to find the secret passage, so were popping out of the structure in strange places at intervals. Reaching down, Sarah gently lifted the small brunette child and cuddled her sleeping form gently.

Not long after, the two little blonds pointed towards the side yard and yelled, nearly simultaneously, "It's a dog!" Sure enough, a canine of indeterminate color, age, and type, was standing there. Before either parent could say anything, the two were off the play set and moving towards the animal. Sarah had told them never to pet a dog they didn't know, and, as though they could sense their mother's thoughts, they stopped and looked back towards the porch. The dog, which was quite large, though very thin and dirty, stood there shaking. The tremors in its legs only accentuated the fact that it was obviously frightened. The twins, who were great animal lovers, as their jungle bedroom could attest, moved a few steps nearer the dog. Sarah wanted to yell that they stop, but didn't want to frighten the dog into biting one of them. Jareth was still seated, though perched on the edge of his chair. As the little girl reached out, the dog flinched but, at her subsequent stillness, he shifted slightly closer. Smelling her fingers, he whined softly. When he proceeded to lick her hand, she moved enough so that she could pat his head gently.

The calmness of the moment was shattered, however, when three boys rounded the corner of the house, yelling as they saw the dog.

Jareth was now standing.

Both twins seemed taken aback at the sudden appearance of the older children, and the dog made a strange squeaking sound before dropping to the ground. As the middle boy pulled back his foot to kick the creature, her brave, three year old daughter stepped between them. If Jareth hadn't been a magical, glitter spewing king, the boy would have been facing down one of the scariest things on earth: a livid mother. As it was, the trio found themselves staring up an infuriated royal.

"I want you all to turn around and _go home_," he bit out, his mismatched eyes boring into the three.

"But that's my dog!" declared the leader, obviously rather frightened but unwilling to leave without his punching bag.

"**Not anymore**," Jareth informed him, bending at the waist and looking him straight in the eye. "**And if I **_**ever**_** find you near my house again, or my children, or their dog, you'll have nightmares for life**."

The boys took off back around the house, leaving the Goblin King and Queen alone with their children and the new family pet.

"Daddy, do you mean it?" asked one twin.

"Can we really keep him?" asked the other.

Jareth turned to look back at Sarah, a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

"_You _can give it a bath, Goblin King," his wife informed him as the children danced gleefully around the yard. Even the dog seemed to realize it had something to be happy about, for its tail began wagging and its head came up off the ground.

When Jareth rejoined her on the porch, she gave him a soft smile. The baby, who was now awake, blinked owlishly at him. "Protective, are we?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to defend himself, only to have her lean forward and say, "Makes me glad you're their father." She kissed his chin lightly before pointing behind him. "Now, go wash the dog."

Sarah had to say that she was rather proud of Jareth's restraint the next morning, for he waited until she was sitting in the living room, drinking her tea, before showering her with glitter.

Christine was in the bathroom, singing something in what sounded like Italian, so she was left to deal with his Sparkly Highness all on her own.

"Honestly, Sarah…You have some of the strangest dreams." His tone was bemused.

"I never asked you to watch them, did I?" She didn't look up from the paper on Kipling she was proof reading.

"Don't misunderstand, precious…I find them incredibly amusing and informative, but, if I may be so bold, why a dog?"

"Every child should have a pet, Jareth," she informed the blond man as she stood from the couch. "And I had a dog growing up, so why wouldn't I dream about one?"

She was just placing the cup in the sink when his hands appeared on either side of her, boxing her in against the counter.

"Jareth…" she began, intending to give him at least a moment to reconsider before she sent her elbow into his middle.

"And do you really like it when I'm protective, Sarah?" he asked, interrupting her with the softly intoned question.

Even as she fought to keep it from happening, heat flooded her cheeks. "Jareth…" she began again, and was again interrupted.

"Although, you really didn't keep me true to me in this one, did you?" he pointed out, wisely removing himself from the vicinity of her elbows as she turned.

"What are you talking about?"

He chuckled as he turned towards the apartment door. "If that had truly been me, the boy would have suffered more than merely the threat of lifelong nightmares."

Sarah was left standing with her mouth and eyes wide open as the hallway door clicked shut behind him. Had the Goblin King really just said her dream hadn't made him protective _enough_? Shaking her head, she walked back into the living room, only to find her roomie glowering at the sparkly mess he'd left behind.

"Had a visitor, did we?" asked the girl, arms crossed as she looked at Sarah.

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><p>Well? What do ya'll think? Not the best, but still, kind of cute ^.^ Please review!<p> 


	13. A Cruel Protest

A/N: Sorry this one took a little longer...I was having a few issues with it. Sometimes, the Goblin King tries to take over and throw in _waaaay_ too much fanservice at one go, so we had a talk about that and got everything straightened out ^.^ Please enjoy the chapter!

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><p>It took Sarah nearly an hour to clean up after Jareth's latest glitter poofing escapade. She could tell that her roomie wanted to know what had happened while she'd been belting Italian arias, but couldn't quite decide if that was allowed, thanks to The Plan. Granted, they really didn't <em>have<em> a plan yet...And if Sarah had learned nothing else since first meeting Jareth, she knew to be flexible. The only truly feasible plan was one which could change at a moments notice. The one truly definitive point in the whole scheme was its end: to see his bare hands.

Finally Christine could not keep from saying, "Do you think there's a meaning to all this glitter? Other than being annoying, I mean."

Sarah pushed her hair over shoulder before dragging the vacuum back to the closet. "I honestly doubt there's any special meaning, Chris. He likes to make statements, so covering everything in glitter works as well as anything, I suppose."

"Yeah, but we know he sheds more of it when he's surprised or trying to make a point. I've seen him poof off with very little glitter spewing..."

"I guess you'd have to ask _him _why he does and doesn't and for how long and to what extent. All I know," Sarah wiped her forehead, leaving a glittery streak behind, "is that he seems to take great pleasure in covering me in the stuff."

"Do you think..." Chris paused.

Sarah lifted one dark brow and said, "What?"

"Do you think he's doing that on purpose...To tell others to stay away from you?"

"Like he's marking his territory?" Sarah's face was carefully blank.

Chris knew that tone of voice, so she chose her words with care. "I wouldn't say it quite like that..."

Sarah's face tightened and then everything smoothed out again. "How_ would_ you put it, Chris? If that's really what he's doing, then how is it any different from an animal marking its territory?"

"But we do that, too. Don't we?" The opera singer was trying to be delicate about this. She wasn't sure if Sarah would appreciate where she was about to take the conversation.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Sarah seemed honestly puzzled.

Christine made a scoffing sound, saying, "I know your world was PG, but surely you can't be unaware of what a hickey is!"

Sarah's face flushed just a little. "Of course I know what they are! I might not be as old as you, but I'm not that out of it!" Her voice turned petulant as she crossed her arms, "And I don't want him doing _that_ either!"

Christine sighed and cast her gaze upward, as though seeking guidance from the cracks in the ceiling. However, before she could comment, Sarah pointed a finger in her direction.

"What if Erik suddenly put a sign around your neck that read 'Property of O.G. - Any who touch will be strung up from the nearest rafter' ? That sort of thing isn't normal! And after beating the Labyrinth, I realized something: I just want to be normal! And so help me, if all this glitter is what's keeping me single, I'll kick his scrawny, sparkly butt all the way back to the castle beyond the Goblin City and glue it to his freaky, bone-molded throne!" Sarah's left eye was twitching as she made this declaration.

Christine was well aware that the words she was about to speak could get her killed, but she opened her mouth and spoke them anyway, "Sarah, you have no more ability to be normal than any of the rest of us do...Think about it! Your life is part of your story, and your story is part of your life. Without one, the other couldn't exist. And yes, I know how your story ended, but be glad you don't have to deal with a sequel, too!" Christine grimaced as she said it, then continued. "You have the chance to make your story end _however you want_. Don't turn your nose up at that! There are quite a few of us who would _love_ to have that choice..."

The brunette was doing a fabulous imitation of a wide mouth bass as the singer climbed off her metaphorical soap box. It took her a few seconds to form coherent words, but when she did her denial was perhaps not quite as forceful as it could have been. "What's wrong with wanting what everyone else wants? Don't you think it would be amazing to not have to explain the stalker who follows you everywhere? Wouldn't it be wonderful to go to the movies with your date and not be worried something's going to happen to scare him off, or worse, kill him? I'm not from the eighteen hundreds, Chris. I won't swoon into the arms of whoever sweeps me off my feet. I want someone who knows the meaning of the word 'relationship'...Animal instinct is all fine and dandy, but it doesn't create a love to last the ages." Sarah took a deep breath rubbed her face. "And he's still a rat fink, slimy, manipulative git who can't see past his own ego half the time, and when he does manage to act caring, it never lasts longer than a chapter or two!" She worked hard to keep her voice down, so that said slimy git wouldn't hear her and make trouble again.

Christine had honestly been touched by the beginning of Sarah's monologue, but by the end, only one line ran through her head. "Sarah..." she began, "You've read most of Shakespeare, so you should be well aware that there's a quote for this." The blonde wasn't sure why she was fighting Jareth's battle for him...Granted, she was doing this more for Sarah than for her magical stalker.

"What?" squeaked the younger girl, her green eyes wide and staring.

"You know...'Methinks the lady doth protest too much.'"

"Actually, it's 'The lady doth protest too much, methinks,' but that is _not _the point!" She shook her head like a wet dog, before throwing up her hands. "See? This is what I mean! I will agree with you that he can be charming and sweet when he wants to be, but he _doesn't stay that way_." Sarah enunciated the last few words so that Chris couldn't miss them. "I wouldn't get together with a _human_ who would hug you one minute and then start strangling you the next, so why in the world would I try it with someone who is _magic_?"

Chris sighed and asked, "Are you afraid of a possible relationship because of what he might do in the future or because of what he did in the past?"

Sarah blinked a few times, opening and closing her mouth as she sought for an answer. "I-well, I-" Finally, she took a deep breath, as though to calm herself. "Both, I suppose. I couldn't trust him then, and my gut reaction is to still distrust him now. I _know_ people say 'forgive and forget', but that's hard to do when he acts like a complete idiot again...Every time he does that, I get visions of the Cleaners and the entire Goblin Army racing towards me. Because, Chris, no matter what he or the book says, I really do have no powers that could stand against him if he got nasty...Some of the goblins might stick up for me, but that would only get them bogged...If I put myself into that position and get hurt, I'll have only myself to blame. So, no matter how sweet and charming he can be, I still have no proof that he's truly changed, and I don't know if I ever will."

Chris gave a sad smile and walked over to sit next to her roomie on the couch. Giving her a one arm hug, she said, "Sorry I brought all this up...I can understand the whole 'You're attractive in a freaky way but that doesn't mean you're the one for me' thing. Just...keep an open mind, okay? Who knows? Maybe something will happen to prove he really has changed." Standing, she moved toward her bedroom. Pausing, she looked over her shoulder and said, "However, you should consider if you'd be attracted to him as much if he became someone else...If he suddenly started acting like somebody else, would you really be happier? I mean, if he suddenly started spouting the obvious like Legolas, would you want to kiss him or kill him?" Closing her door on that parting comment, she didn't get to see Sarah's face grimace at the thought.

Now sitting alone in the living room, the student was left with much to consider...Did she really want the Goblin King to change to fit what _she_ thought of as perfect for her? Were there things about the Fae she'd miss if they were suddenly gone? Grabbing the ubiquitous pillow, she pressed her face against and let out a short scream. Why couldn't things be just be simple?

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><p>Later that evening, Sarah was sitting and studying for a test when her mind insisted on wandering once again to the fact that she was single. Was Chris right after all? Did Jareth have some type of ability to drive men away with all that glitter? Surely not...<p>

Most of the guys at the college were your everyday, average humans. Just the kind who would take her to the movies and out to eat, then drop her off with a quick peck on the lips. They wouldn't suddenly transform into another species or start getting all up in her personal space as though they belonged there. They were _normal_. Granted, the few boys she'd dated in high school had never thrilled her in any real way...But they were normal, and that was what mattered. She had a choice with them. They knew better than to try their luck, and if they did, she knew how to make them sorry for it. Karate had been a great investment after coming back from the Underground.

Perhaps she should try again with someone from one her classes. She would probably have to warn them about His Sparkly Highness, but if she found a guy who was at least mildly interested in her, and he was an everyday human male, she would bash the glittery git over the head with something large and heavy before he could ruin it. And if he decided to take a few pointers from Erik then both he and his roommate would face the prospect of never, _ever_ being able to sire children..._**ever**_.

Shoving herself back from the desk she commanded herself to stop thinking about it. Flopping face down onto the her bed, she just lay there. It wouldn't do her any good to worry herself into a fit...after all it, was almost 11:30 and she had to get up for class in the morning. _And_ she didn't feel like embarrassing herself again with some random guy at a bar. Jacob had seemed so _normal_...then he'd grown all the fur and run off on all fours. Why did he have to be a werewolf? Flailing her arms around for a moment or two, she let some of the pent up frustration out. Stupid boys...men were dumb.

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><p>She was just folding the last piece of clean laundry when she felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around her. Granted, they had latched onto her leg. The location and the diminutive size of said arms alerted her to the fact that one of her children wanted her attention. Glancing down, she saw the dark head of her younger daughter pressed against her jeans. Now a precocious two year old, the girl was amusing herself after dinner by moving around the house under her own power.<p>

"Are you ready for bed, bright eyes?" Turning, Sarah reached down and lifted the small child into her arms.

The girl smiled and nodded, leaning forward to rub her nose against her mother's.

Laughing, she bear hugged the toddler, breathing in the scent of her freshly washed hair as she carried the child towards her room.

It was only after all three children were settled into their beds and drifting towards dreamland that their parents had a few minutes alone. Jareth had just plopped down on his side of the bed when his wife exited the bathroom. Instead of crawling in on her side, she walked around the room until she was standing squarely between his legs.

A pair of rather startled, mismatched eyes stared up at her, questioning. "Sarah?" he asked.

The Goblin Queen leaned forward and, balancing with her hands on his shoulders, placed a chaste kiss on his forehead. Pulling back, she smirked down at the dumbfounded king.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, chuckling a little as he reached up and placed his hands on her hips.

"Remind me again, Jareth...Did you want another prince? Or was it another princess?" Her smile grew wider as his face showed shock.

She let out a short laugh as he exclaimed, "You're pregnant?" His eyes dropped to her middle, which was covered by a baggie Bowie t-shirt. "When did you find out?"

"Well, I haven't been to the doctor yet, but, from past experiences, I figure your Christmas present is already cooking."

Her husband gave a smile which showed off his rather pointy, white teeth, before leaning towards her middle. She slipped her hands up and into his soft hair as he lifted her shirt and placed an open-mouthed kiss over his fourth child.

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><p>As the dream faded away, Sarah blinked her eyes open, only to let out a squeal like a stuck pig. Jareth's face was not three inches from hers. He was sitting there on his heels with his chin propped on the bed next to her. Now sitting up, she placed a hand over her racing heart and growled, "What have I said about showing up without permission?"<p>

The Goblin King's head didn't move, though now his eyes were staring up at her in his best imitation of a fluffy widdle owl. And then, without any warning, his lower lip started to tremble and his eyes teared up as he exclaimed, "That was just _cruel_!"

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><p>Is it sad that the ending came to me out of <em>nowhere<em> and I absolutely fell in love with it? Please review! Inspiration often comes in the form of them ;)

*Edit: People have been asking what Jareth means at the end, so I suppose I should make a point to explain...Sarah just dreamt about telling him she was pregnant, he proceeded to get all excited in the dream (and in the waking world), but then she woke up, and he is a little frustrated wanting the dream to be a reality. Does that make sense? Hope so!


	14. Menacing, Glittery Angst

A/N: Jareth gets to be all angsty ^.^ Please enjoy!

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><p>"What in the name of random black chickens did I do <em>now<em>?" Sarah was leaning over the side of her bed, watching the Goblin King lie on the floor in a tight little ball. "Seriously, Jareth...you're freaking me out just a little here."

The blond man didn't move, although she thought she heard a muffled _sniff_.

Wondering what crazy bug had bit him, she tentatively reached down and poked his shoulder. Her touch resulted in a huge cloud of of glitter and an empty place on the floor.

"Oh for the love of - JARETH!" However, her exclamation wasn't nearly as dignified as it could have been since she was coughing and sneezing to beat the Goblin Army Band.

Christine didn't even bother to look up from her hot beverage when the younger woman banged her way into the front room. "Got glittered, huh?"

"I HAVE _**HAD **_IT!" Sarah screeched before rushing the front door, jerking it open, and slamming it shut behind her.

Christine reached for the phone, taking a sip of her coffee as she dialed. "Erik? Code: She's coming." Carefully placing the receiver back into the cradle, she unhurriedly set about preparing for her day.

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><p>Sarah pounded her way down the hallway, took the stairs two at a time, and stomped her way into the offending party's apartment. Erik carefully closed the door behind her and silently pointed the glowering brunette towards the bathroom.<p>

"Sarah..." he cautioned as she turned in that direction, "I don't think you should go in there...It's just too horrible..."

"..."

Erik made an audible gulping noise and hurriedly moved out of her way.

Reaching the bathroom, she pushed the door open and it creaked ominously. Her sleep shirt, emblazoned with a neon lightning bolt, caught the harsh ceiling light. So did the glitter. _All_ the glitter. She herself was already covered in it; the stuff even seemed to be clinging to every strand of her hair. Granted, what she wore was nothing compared to the piles of sparkly dust before her. In her estimation, the bathroom would probably keep several dozen little girls happy for quite some time...

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the telltale blond hair sticking up over the rim of the bathtub. The sparkly bathtub...

Wading into the glitter, which came to her knees, she pushed her way towards the tub and the prone body of the Goblin King. Reaching the point where she could look down at the man, she crossed her arms and demanded, "What did you drink, because I'm telling you right now you are never, _ever_ going to drink it again!"

Jareth didn't open his eyes, merely continued lying there, his boot clad feet propped up against the far wall.

Sarah, who didn't like being ignored when she was angry, especially by the person she was angry _with_, acted quickly and without thinking. Glad she was wearing a pair of pajama bottoms under her baggy shirt, she sat down on the rim of the tub, spun around on it, and dropped her feet down onto his middle.

As they landed on him, his hands shot up from his sides and took hold. Opening one eye to a slit, he glared up at her before lifting her feet and shoving her backwards, away from the tub.

Landing in the glitter, she stared up at the ceiling, speechless. Had Jareth just wordlessly told _her_ not to touch _him_? Rolling over, she grabbed the side and peered over it. He was now lying on his side, facing away from her.

Now she was both angry _and _confused. What in the world was wrong with him? Reaching out to poke his shoulder again, she found her hand caught in one of his. Once more, he pushed her away.

Had she really done something to make him_ this _upset? Had he overheard their conversation of the night before? "Jareth? Are you angry about what Chris and I talked about last night? Because, if you are, you got what you deserved! You have no right to be eavesdropping on -" She was interrupted as he spun to face her, placing his face mere inches from hers.

"I have no idea _what_ you're talking about, Precious, which is probably a _good_ thing. Now, _**leave**_." The last word was harsh and bitter, and his eyes glinted unnaturally as they finally met hers.

Not letting him know he was frightening her, she refused to move away from him. "Then why are you this angry?"

"Would you rather I sit and cry? Not going to happen..."

"Honestly, Jareth. You're going to have to tell me what I've done, because you've lost me."

"Think, Sarah. What did you dream? Why would I be angry?" He was once again lying with his back to her.

"Wait. A. Minute..." Sarah paused to take a deep breath. "Are you telling _me_ that you're angry because of something _I_ dreamt?"

His back was so stiff the goblins could have used it for a table...If they used such things.

"You have the _gall_ to throw a temper tantrum of little girl birthday party proportions over something you _spied _on?" Jerking her head around, she searched for something, anything, she could use as a weapon. Grabbing the toilet brush, she stood and lobbed it at the royal-pain-in-the-hiney's head. Spinning, she leapt over mounds of glitter, grabbing the door and closing it with a _bang_ on the howls which were now emanating from within.

Erik, who was still standing in the living room, rushed to open the door for the livid brunette. Pausing just as she crossed the threshold, she spoke, though not turning to face him. "You might want to run out and get a new toilet brush, Erik. The one you had is probably completely bedazzled by this point..." With that, she headed back to her own apartment.

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><p>Christine had already left for her first lesson when Sarah pulled the door open a few minutes later. However, that didn't mean the place was empty. A glowering, sparkly, menacing Jareth stood between her and the bedroom hallway. In his hand was the toilet brush. Taking stiff legged steps towards her, he stopped when he was about a foot away, glaring down at her as his cape snapped with storm lashed intensity.<p>

Sarah was not impressed. Granted, she was a little freaked out, but that didn't mean she was impressed. She had learned to expect the unexpected where this particular magical entity was concerned.

"I left, Goblin King, just like you wanted. Now _you_, get out." She jerked her heads towards the door at her back.

His mismatched eyes narrowed even more, if that were possible. Pulling his arm up with infinite care, he showed her the cleaning implement. His fingers were white knuckled on the handle, and the hand there were attached to seemed to be shaking a bit.

"What, have you never seen one of those before?" Sarah knew she was jumping up and down on thin ice, but she would never admit that his angry confession about the Pregnant Dream had done funny things to her stomach. Had he been angry she'd dreamt something like that? Or was it something else? Either way, she didn't want to go there...Better to make him angry about something, _anything_, else.

He said nothing, only stared at her, his expression fierce.

"Do you honestly not know what a _toilet brush _is, Jareth?" The level of sarcasm in her tone was turned up all the way, or as all the way as she could go while wondering if he'd hit her with the thing.

Just as she was getting ready to duck and cover, it disappeared, although with very little glitter to mark its absence. She had just opened her mouth to attempt another snarky comment when the man himself stopped her.

"Of all the ways to calm me down, you decided to use a _cleaning implement_?"

Who was it that said you couldn't sidetrack a glitter-spewing magical Goblin King?

"Did it work?"

"NO!" He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and allowing the cape to calm down.

"Look, Jareth...If you have a problem with my dreams, then don't watch them. And I would like to add: I don't sit and come up with a script for what's going to happen each time I have one. They just sort of...happen."

"You know better than that, Precious," he answered, the art going completely straight as he rubbed his face with one gloved hand. "What you dream comes from your subconscious, a place I can't tamper with. Therefore, if you're dreaming something as vivid as the ones you've been experiencing, a portion of your mind is coming up with the 'scripts', as you call them."

"If that's the case, how do you explain dreams like walking into a classroom wearing, oh I don't know, a pirate costume and joining in with a cha-cha line of farm animals?" Sarah was merely being facetious, but quickly remembered why it was difficult to do that with Jareth when he was being serious.

"Perhaps it was something you ate...Stay away from bologna and beef jerky before bed."

"I'm still not quite getting what the raging vortex of glittery angst you just shed all over your bathroom has to do with my latest dream."

Sighing, he allowed the cape to disappear. Without it, he didn't seem _nearly_ as menacing and otherwordly. She was also rather relieved to see that his eyes were no longer glinting dangerously. She knew, somehow, that he would never actually hit her, but she didn't want him punching a wall or anything like that, either.

"Sarah...Precious...Dreaming something where we _have_ children, born and happy, is one thing. To have a dream where you_ tell_ me your pregnant? Maybe you don't understand what that _does _to a man...It makes you feel taller than just about anything else can. And trust me, that's pretty high when you possess as much power as I do. But then, you woke up. And I was reminded, with startling clarity, that you think I'm lower than the earth upon which you walk. Needless to say, I was not pleased..."

"So, you went from acting like a slightly demented fluffy owl to a glitter factory because you forgot that I was just dreaming?" Sarah was having a hard time seeing the logical strand which connected the two, but, knowing Jareth, there probably was an illogical one floating around somewhere.

"I'm Fae...We tend to jump from one emotion to the other with little warning sometimes."

"Oh...So you're like Tinkerbell?"

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><p>Sorry, ya'll...I couldn't resist the Tinkerbell bit. For some reason, it came to me and that was how the chapter was going to <em>have<em> to end. Reviews? Xiexie ni ^.^


	15. YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME!

A/N: Well, here's chapter 15...And before we even get started, I must tell you this: I have no idea where the end came from. Also, I have no idea what will come of it... Enjoy!

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><p>As her comment hit the Goblin King, his cape came back with startling force, though now his face was bright red instead of lividly pale. Glitter puffed off him in clouds, and he snorted like an affronted bull.<p>

"Okay...so maybe _not _like Tinkerbell, then..." Sarah knew when to retreat. Usually. However, she couldn't resist adding, "Granted, if you've ever seen the Disney version, you _do _share a few simil-"

He cut her off with one word, "Mother!"

Looking around quickly, Sarah demanded, "Where?"

"You sound just like her..."

"You did _not_ just tell me that I remind you of your _mother_! There is no way I am _anything_ like that evil ice queen! Take it _**back**_ or so help me I'll find a way to put some of the Bog in your now sparkly bathtub!" Her voice had gotten so brittle it could cracked if you dropped it.

"See see see?" Jareth had raised his hand and was now pointing at her.

"Don't 'See see see' me!" Sarah stalked towards him and he backed up until he hit the couch arm. As he sat with a _thump_, she could look straight into his eyes.

And that was all it took for him to smirk, obviously with evil intent. She tried to move away from him but wasn't quick enough. His arms shot out and grabbed her wrists with a firmness she very much disliked. Not wanting to give him the pleasure of her trying to shake him off, however, and figuring he'd probably use her struggles as a way to get her closer, she stood still and glared at him. Over the years that she had known him he had hypothetically died 5,684 times...Not that she was keeping track or anything. Sarah wasn't normally a violent person, but Jareth _did_ tend to bring out in the worst in her. He had just met his end for the 5,685 time.

"Seriously, Jareth...You're acting like it's your time of the month. Would you pick an emotion and stick with it? I think I'm getting whiplash." She turned her face away from the once again capeless Goblin King. Maybe if she didn't make eye contact he'd go away... Her inner-self snorted even as she thought it. Well, one could dream couldn't they?

Her internal dialogue was interrupted by the fact that she was now facing _away_ from the Goblin King. Not good! Not good! That little voice which was Sarah-On-The-Inside went about pointing out the obvious while Sarah-On-The-Outside went about ignoring her.

"Jareth!" she exclaimed, willing to struggle now that she could_ see_ freedom. His arms, which really had no right to be that strong, tightened slightly against her ribs.

"None of that, Precious..." His voice came from the area directly over her right shoulder. She felt his breath against her neck, which created an automatic reaction in her to move the other way as quickly as possible. However, _her_ idea of speed and _his_ idea of speed were obviously not acquainted, for she found herself running _from_ him and running _into _him at the same time. His lips grazed her cheekbones before she knew what was happening.

Once again jerking her head away, she allowed herself the release of stomping her foot on the floor. "You slimy git! Let go of me!"

"Now why would I do that?" His voice was positioned farther away, although still close enough to stir the hair on the back of her head.

"Because this is _so_ not helping your case with the whole 'Why don't you like me?' thing."

Poofing to stand in front of her, he leaned down before she could back away and said, "Sounds like an empty threat to me, love. After all, I know that a _part _of you likes me well enough to dream about our future..."

"Maybe it's just the beef jerky!" She hoped, desperately, that her face was not as warm as it felt.

He blinked once. He blinked twice. He blinked a third time.

Sarah used that time to move back half a step or so. However, she didn't get to do any more than that.

As he let out a bark of laughter, revealing his rather pointy, white teeth, his arms shot out and grabbed her once again. This time he didn't let her say a word. Putting his nose a hairs breadth from hers, he said softly, "If beef jerky gave people dreams like that...you wouldn't be able to get your hands on any, Precious."

If Sarah hadn't been fairly flustered before, she was well on her way _now_. She hated the fact that there were moments, many of them occurring now with alarming frequency, when the man could say something others would see as a perfectly normal statement, but would make _her_ react like a scalded cat. Before Jareth, she hadn't even known what that _meant_! Gritting her teeth, she refused to allow him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her.

Obviously seeing the determination in her eyes, along with her bright red face, he chuckled before closing the gap between their noses, rubbing them quickly together before pulling back to avoid losing said appendage. He might be magical, but having Sarah take a bite out of his nose would still inflict a _great_ deal of needless pain...

The brunette had just opened her mouth to yell at him...again, when the front door opened. Christine stood there, taking in the sight of her roomie and the Goblin King standing only a few inches apart. Her gaze registered the fact that Sarah's face was bright red and that Jareth was glittering all over the carpet. Then her eyes moved up and took in the entire room. It _shone_...literally. The blond went rigid, her spine hardening up in a such a way that Sarah was sure she could hear each vertebrae locking itself into place. As the girl's left eye began to twitch, the law student glanced around the room. While not _nearly_ as bad as the boy's bathroom, it was definitely reflecting the light in ways it never had before.

As the French singer geared herself for a right royal setdown, Sarah said in a forceful whisper, "Jareth, if you poof off and leave me aloen with her _and _your mess, so help me I'll lead the next chicken coup myself and _everything _in your closet will mysteriously turn pink for the foreseeable future."

Jareth glanced down at her right before the loudest string of French either of them had _ever_ head came pouring out. And that was saying something due to the fact that Erik, for being a "ghost", would be louder than Mr. Todd sometimes.

Sarah, while nowhere near fluent in French, had lived with Christine long enough to recognize that many of the words being thrown about were not the sort of thing one to said to ones grandmother over afternoon tea.

After one especially long and vicious sounding paragraph, Jareth even moved his hands from her arms and slapped them over her ears. Grabbing onto them, she watched, wide eyed, as the blond stomped around the room, gesticulating wildly and pointing out spots of glitter which seemed to particularly offend her. It wasn't until the girl slammed her bedroom door that he lowered them. Sarah, not really paying attention, kept her grip on them. Her PG mind had just been expanded to include language surely illegal in some states...

Christine, however, was not quite finished. The French had been muted a bit when she closed the door, but the level reached near ear-splitting levels when it was yanked open again. This time, several small bodies were propelled from the room, a few of them feathered. As they landed, the ones which were chickens squawked indignantly while the ones which proved to be goblins let out squeals of glee. One of the smallest of the bunch had wrapped a feathered boa around himself several times and was now happily exclaiming that HE was the Chicken Race Champion.

Before Christine could reenter the room, Jareth poofed them both away, which led Sarah to finding herself sitting on something soft and slightly squishy. Blinking, she looked around and nearly had a conniption.

Letting out a shriek that would have made Miss Daae proud, she exclaimed, pointing up at the still standing Goblin King, "You have no power over me! I didn't make a wish and you can't say that I did! I told you not to dare leave me alone, so there's no way you could construe that as a wish! Take me back! YOU HAVE NO POW-"

Jareth didn't allow her to finish her no rather pointless sentence, for he reached down and took hold of her still pointing arm and drew her up from the pit of cushions. He then effectively knocked all the wind out of her by drawing her up against himself.

"Relax, Precious..." he said, smiling. Not smirking, mind, but honest-to-goodness-oh-my-goblins-the-art-has-gone-all-straight kind of smile. "I didn't think you wanted to be someplace your rather _forceful_ roommate could find you. And it was either _this_ or the Labyrinth itself...My intuition told me a glass bubble would be the better choice of the two."

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><p>Jareth...When will you learn? Honestly...Sarah was right in Pika's comic: Does he have a room for a brain in there anywhere? Reviews, please?<p> 


	16. Sleeves

A/N: Sorry this one took so long, folks...I was hoping to get it up over the weekend, but I never really got one. The next chapter or so will probably follow along with the Halloween theme, seeing how we're in October now (which is one of the BEST MONTHS EVER!) Please enjoy!

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><p>Sarah felt like she was going to hyperventilate. Her breathing was quickly becoming <em>very <em>rapid and _very _shallow. Shoving Jareth aside, she stumbled a step or two before falling to her knees. Forcing herself to breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, she darted a glance around the bubble. This time, it wasn't just her mind caught inside. From what the blond git had said, she was well and truly trapped within the magical bauble. Unlike her previous experience seeing the inside of a glass crystal, this one did not boast anything large enough, or heavy enough, to shatter the iridescent sides. Well, she corrected herself, glowering slightly, almost nothing. If only she could use a certain royal noggin as a battering ram... It was large enough, after all, though she wondered if it would have enough weight. It _was_ mostly hot air and ego, after all.

As her breathing finally slowed, she ran a hand though her hair, checking for any bits of cobweb or silver filigree. Thankfully, she wasn't dressed up like a cupcake this time, but she wasn't taking any chances. Give a glittery Goblin King with a mega ego an inch and he'd take you for all you were worth...

Not hearing the snort of derision she was expecting at her movement, Sarah looked over her shoulder suspiciously. Eyes and mouth both flying wide open and she shot to her feet, spinning in a full circle. Unless he'd somehow burrowed down into the pillow pit, Jareth, Goblin King and Ye Olde Glitter Factory, was nowhere to be seen. As in g-o-n-e, gone.

"JarethhhhhhhhHHHHHH!" Thinking back on it, Sarah would have to later admit she had just performed one _fine_ imitation of an enraged water buffalo... At the moment, however, she was too focused on her predicament to care what species of bovine she mimicked. Jareth had left her trapped in a glass bubble, and unless the pillows were stuffed with ball bearings or other equally heavy equipment, she was stuck there until he saw fit to come back. Granted, she could always make a wish... But everything came with a price and she knew better than to play _that_ game with him. He tended to come out smelling like a rose more often than not, while _she_ usually felt the rather murderous desire to remove certain vital body parts from his royal person.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to turn, though her legs were beginning to shake. Leaning forward, she braced herself on her knees, refusing to cry. She wouldn't give the git the pleasure. Though she knew, a small part of her murmured, that he really did seem to hate it when she was sad or freaked out...After all, that was when he tended to try helping, which inevitably led to rather epic failure. However, as the one side of her brain was extolling his "good" qualities, the other side graced her once again with an image of the Cleaners barreling toward her as she had her back pressed up against an iron gate in a tiny stone tunnel.

Walking around the perimeter, the brunette reached out to touch the glass side of her cage, testing to see how strong it was. Nothing happened...She didn't even leave fingerprints behind. The portion of herself which was still the fifteen year old girl from the movie expressed a rather insistent desire to throw a temper tantrum.

Sarah Williams had passed the age of fifteen years before, but that voice in her head could still get the better of her sometimes. Spinning away from the shimmering wall, she stamped her foot a time or two before launching herself across the room, directly into the pillow pit. Grabbing the cushions, innocent through they were, she hurled them over her shoulders and slammed them into one another over and over again. She knew throwing such a fit was neither dignified nor very regal, but she'd never asked to be stalked by a perverted, magical king in the first place! He wanted a queen? She'd but up a bog-awful fight before _that _happened!

As quickly as the anger hit, it disappeared, leaving a drained young woman behind in a half empty, pillow strewn hole in the floor. Plopping down among the remaining cushions, she buried her face in them and let out one last scream. As the noise dissipated, she felt a few tears fall from her eyes to be absorbed by the colorful fabrics upon which she lay.

Exhausted, thanks to her full morning of glitter and poofing and _Jareth_, she allowed herself to snuggle farther down into the pillows. She had no idea _when_ said annoying royal would show back up, though she knew he would at some point...He was good at that, the great glittery git, wanting to show off and be the center of attentiooooonnnnnzzzzz...

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><p>Sarah had just finished adding the final touches to her hair when she heard the telltale sound of her twins gearing up for a battle. Sighing, she moved so that she could poke her head into the hallway. "Both of you, leave the buckets alone! I've already told you, they're all exactly the same and there are plenty for all of you." As her oldest son opened his mouth, she gave him <em>The Look<em> and he closed it again. Getting all four of her children AND her husband ready for trick-or-treating had proved a little more of challenge this year than she'd anticipated. Maybe she shouldn't have chosen such an ambitious costume for herself...Either way, they were all nearly ready to leave, if the fact that her younger daughter was running around waving a flowery wand at everything was any indication.

Reentering the bedroom, she slipped her sandals on before leaning down to pick up her youngest child, a little boy with her eyes and slightly curly golden hair. When Crowley had seen him for the first time, he'd thrown his head back, laughed himself silly for a minute or two, then turned to Jareth and said, "Isn't it cute? He's got Angel hair!" So much glitter had coated the hospital room thanks to her husband's rather pointed disapproval of the comment that Sarah, as Goblin Queen of the Underground, had managed to get both parts of the problem to clean it up. All through this, Aziraphale had sat on the side of the bed and cooed down at the baby contentedly, refusing to let Crowley near the newborn again until he'd finished doing as Sarah had asked.

Chuckling to herself at the memory, she carried the baby, now ten months old, into the living room. The twins, surrounded by goblins, were showing how their own brightly colored hair came off and went back on, to the great enjoyment of the creatures. Why she'd let him dress up as goblins, she honestly could not say...It wasn't like they didn't already have plenty running around, trying to be helpful.

Granted, she really did have nothing to complain about. After all, she'd talked Jareth into letting her dress the youngster in her arms up as a chicken. When she'd broached the idea a few months earlier, his expression had plainly said don't-you-even-dare-that's-not-funny-STOP-LAUGHING-now-you're-just-being-cruel-make-him-an-owl-if-you-must-turn-him-into-some-form-of-avian-Sarah-pay-attention... It had taken a bit of cajoling, but eventually they'd come to an agreement: she'd dress the boy up as a barnyard fowl, but the outfit would in no way contain anything resembling the Underground's notorious black chickens. She'd even let him kiss her to seal the deal, though to hear him talk, you'd think she'd thrown herself at him when he'd agreed.

Said aggrieved royal entered the living room just in time to see his oldest daughter poof herself from the floor to the back of the couch. As she teetered, nearly falling off the piece of furniture, he snatched her up and gave her a hug, saying, "You're getting much better at that, princess! Just remember, when you land, try to find someplace you know is big enough to hold you."

"Yes Daddy!" she said before he placed her back on her feet.

Jareth watched her rejoin his heir, who was barely three minutes older. His son wasn't _quite _as adventurous as his daughter, but he wasn't above coming in from an afternoon of play covered to his ears in mud, with a bug or two stuck up his nose... Chuckling, he turned to face his wife, only to come face to face with a little chicken, all white fabric and wide green eyes.

Sarah laughed as his face showed dissatisfaction for a moment before smoothing out and becoming resigned. He knew better than to argue with her over the costume...After all, what good would it do him?

The woman smiled softly as he gently lifted his youngest son out of her arms, cradling him against his dark outfit for a moment. Looking her husband over, she couldn't help but approve. When she'd come up with the idea that she and he could dress up as Hades and Persephone, he'd been a little unsure what that would require. She'd assured him that all he had to do was go put on his black armor, flare out his favorite I'm-not-happy-can-you-tell? cape, and let her show him what to do with his hair. He didn't look too bad, if she did say so herself. Having shown him the picture of Hades which seemed to have been modeled off of him, he'd crafted his own dread lord of the underworld crown, which was perhaps a little more sparkly than the Greek god would have approved of, but what did she expect?

The baby made a grab for his light blond hair, laughing as it tickled his face for a moment. Leaving the two like that, Sarah made her way into the kitchen, where the trick-or-treat buckets, forbidden territory until she said otherwise, were sitting on the table. The twins had obviously seen her head towards said forbidden territory, because they let out identical war whoops and crashed through their goblin minions in a mad dash to reach the table first. The actual goblins thought being bowled over was incredibly funny, and soon followed the young royals. Jareth made a much more stately entrance, the little chicken still held to his chest, while the flower fairy had hold of his free hand.

Fifteen minutes or so later, once everyone had been given the correct bucket, the Royal Family of the Underground made their way out onto the sidewalk for a night of Ye Olde Trick-Or-Treating. A few feet down the sidewalk, Chris appeared with her own brood in tow. Her husband, face covered by a skeletal mask, had a child under each arm, while his eldest daughter held his Sythe of Office. The French singer was clad in a new angel outfit, and she too held a child, though this one was just a little over a month old.

As the families wandered their way through the neighborhood, Chris told her old roomie, "He keeps trying, but he just can't get the voice down. A word or two might come out right, but then he gets excited..."

As they neared the end of their journey, the twins took off running, aiming straight for their favorite stop in their annual Halloween sugar-high frenzy. It always managed to be one of the strangest stops on the route. Crowley really did _try _to make the place as spooky as possible...but then Aziraphale would want to help, so it came looking more like a demented wedding cake, all cobwebs and gold.

The door creaked open as the two blonds reached the porch, revealing a pair of glowing eyes glittering in the dark opening. The children didn't even pause. An _oomph_ came from the house, as they slammed into Crowley. The entryway light flicked on and the two families heard the angel say, "Honestly, you should know better by now...They are not, nor have they ever been, afraid of you." The golden head of said heavenly agent poked around the door frame and ushered them all into the house. Crowley was still lying on the floor, one twin on his legs, the other on his chest. Both of them were demanding, "Show us the tongue! Show us the tongue!"

The snake lay there for another few seconds, then let out a sigh and flicked his tongue, long, thin, and forked. The two let out exclamations of joy before jumping off him and giving the angel a hug.

Sarah tried to keep from laughing as she walked over and told the snake, who was pushing himself to his feet, "You never should have shown them that, you know..."

All he did was snort before following his more heavenly counterpart into the living room, which was also horrendously decked out for the holiday.

It was only once their little family was back again in their own home that Jareth mentioned her costume. "Where did you find that dress, Precious?" His question came as he was nuzzling her neck.

"Let me at least get the flowers out of my hair, Jareth!" She meant to sound annoyed, but the effect was probably a little ruined thanks to how breathless she sounded.

"I thought you said you wouldn't wear a white dress around me again, after our wedding..." Before Sarah could reach up towards her hair again, he magiced all the flowers and pins away, so that her dark hair fell down to her shoulders. "And I remember telling you I liked seeing you with your hair down."

Turning in her husband's arms, the woman pushed his dark crown off so that it fell to the floor behind them. Sinking her fingers into his light hair, she smiled up at him, saying, "So you don't like my outfit?"

"I never said that," he muttered, his lips hanging over her own for a moment. "And I would warn you not to eat any food from my world...but we're a little late for that, aren't we?"

Sarah couldn't help but laugh at his comment, even though the peach incident was still a rather touchy subject. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say some of the similarities had been planned ahead of time."

"Whatever would give you that idea? After all, when you're here, I'm here, and when I'm in the Underground, so are you and the children." He kissed her softly as he led her towards the bed. "And as for your outfit," he added before things went farther than language could go, "I don't think the sleeves are nearly big enough."

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><p>*gigglesnort* Jareth loves him those monster sleeves (^).(^) Reviews, all you lovely little goblins!<p> 


	17. Mismatched Eyes

A/N: Here's the next installment! I know it's a tad shorter, but I reached a good cliffhanger, so I decided to make you all hate me (^).(^) Again, I own no one and nothing! Don't anybody sue!

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><p>When Sarah woke up, she found herself bundled under the covers - alone - in her own room. Blinking, she stretched as her mind tried to decide what had happened. Hadn't she fallen asleep inside a crystal? And weren't there supposed to be ornately garish pillows? Shaking her hair from her face, she rolled out of bed, rubbing her eyes as she did so. As the last of sleep fled, she saw a little glass ball sitting atop a note on her desk. Staring at it as though it were extremely poisonous and her death could be mere moments away, she froze. After a beat or two, she saw her hand begin to creep in its direction, and her mind said reproachfully, <em>You know better than that!<em> She didn't listen to the warning...she never did.

As her fingers wrapped around the cool crystal, she couldn't help wonder if this would send her right back to the beginning, all those years ago. Nothing happened, however. As her blond nemesis loved to say, once upon a time, "It's just a crystal, nothing more." Passing the object to her other hand, she lifted the accompanying piece of parchment and read the loopy handwriting. "Hopefully, this time, you were able to enjoy yourself."

Unbidden and completely unwelcome, a blush spread over her face. Sarah _hated_ when he tried to act caring and romantic...She was tempted to believe him when he did that.

Shaking her head, she moved out into the living room, which, she was surprised to see, didn't show even a bit of the glitter from her earlier confrontation. Christine walked out of the bathroom and said, "He came back and cleaned up all the sparkle...Which is a first."

"Sorry about that, Chris..." Sarah said quietly, rubbing the back of her neck as the singer passed her on the way to the kitchen.

"It's alright," her friend said, beginning to make tea. "I shouldn't have overreacted that way. After all, we should _all_ be used to Mr. Glitter Pants by this point. Just...don't do whatever you did to set him off again. I don't think I've _ever _seen that much glitter, which is saying something since I lived in an opera house."

Sarah gave a weak chuckle as the blond handed her a cup of tea. "You should have seen their bathroom..."

"I make it a point to _never_ voluntarily look into a men's restroom..._**Ever**_. Frightful places..."

Glad that the tension between them was gone, Sarah got ready for her afternoon class and, for the most part, enjoyed what was left of her day. It was nearly dark when she returned to the building, the October air holding a bit of a bite. She'd just reached for the door when everything disappeared. Not in the magical way, mind; more in the dirty-bag-over-the-head way. So shocked was the young brunette that she forgot to do what every damsel-in-distress does automatically. Instead of screaming and fainting, she squeaked, like an affronted mouse, and then, in a very un-damsel like way, sneezed.

As she was hurled none too gently over a man's shoulder, she heard him say, "'cuse you."

When the bag, which was indeed quite dirty, finally left her head, she found herself staring at three persons, none of whom looked alike and all of whom frightened her in their own ways. The man who had hauled her across town proved to be quite large and had a habit of picking his teeth with long, yellow fingernails. The second being, who might have been a woman or who might have been a man, or who might have something in-between, was terrifying because she couldn't tell _what_ it was. The third presence seemed harmless enough at first glance, but when Sarah swung her gaze back to him, she immediately knew she was going to have nightmares, thanks to him. His eyes were mismatched, but not like Jareth's. One was full and dark, almost sharklike in its intensity. The other had a pupil shrunk almost to nothing. She couldn't tell which was bothering her more...Jareth's eyes had _never_ freaked her out like this.

Of course it would be the most terrifying of the three who spoke first, and of course he would sound like a slightly deranged child. His blond hair was short and wavy, and he would have been boyishly handsome if not for his eyes and his creepy, you-might-be-dead-in-the-next-thirty-seconds voice. As it was, Sarah started rethinking her ban on wishing...This would be a great time for Jareth to pop in and poof her away. Granted, he didn't seem to fully understand the concept of "appropriate timing".

The creepy man with the even creepier voice was saying, "Hello, Miss Williams. My name is Teh-ah-tim-eh. Jonathon Teh-ah-tim-eh. You will be happy to know that you are quite important to a particular operation which is even now underway."

"How do you know my name?" Sarah had not been raised to be a damsel, which was quite apparent in her lack of proper respect for the man who held her life in his hands. Terrified of him she might be, but that didn't mean she couldn't ask questions!

"As I said, Miss Williams, you are part of this little plan, so _of course_ I know your name. In fact, it was first brought to my attention by my employers...They seemed most impatient to have you placed out of the way for the time being."

"Your employers? Who in the name of bogged goblins everywhere would want _me_ out of the way?" Her incredulity merely made him tilt his head to the side, his eyes, already wide and staring, locking on her with unblinking intensity. Then, she started babbling, "I mean, Jadis actually _enjoys _watching her son fall on his face over and over and over again, so I doubt it's her, and this doesn't seem quite right for that glittery, basement dwelling pervert, either."

The blond man was standing, watching her, his head titled slightly to one side. "I would ask that you stop making so much noise, Miss Williams. It really is quite...unpleasant. And we wouldn't want to draw undue attention to ourselves, now would we?"

Sarah swallowed the rest of what she'd been about to say. There was definitely something _wrong_ with this person...

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><p>Well? Am I completely off my rocker? Even if you say I am, it probably won't matter...I have a fondness for Discworld now, which means the characters from the 'verse will probably begin popping up with alarming frequency. But, then again, she just dreamt in the last chapter that Erik was dressed as Death, so maybe I set you all up for it! Reviews, please and thank you!<p> 


	18. The Writing on the Wall

A/N: A bit shorter...but it's not easy to write Teatime! Please enjoy!

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><p>Christine got back to the apartment fairly late, which, for her, meant that it was nearly midnight. She was a little shocked to walk in to darkness. Sarah hadn't mentioned a meeting or a date for that evening...not that the latter would have lasted till midnight. Jareth could be as bad as Erik when he wanted. Trying to be quiet, in case the younger girl was already in bed, she moved towards her own room. However, as she walked down the hall, she noticed that the other door was slightly ajar. Poking her head into the opaque darkness on the other side, she felt around for the light switch. Something just didn't feel right, which usually meant that something was wrong. Deciding to risk her roomie's wrath, she flicked the switch. As the darkened room was flooded with light, she turned on her heel and moved quickly towards the phone. Grabbing the receiver, she punched in the only number that made any sense. "Jareth," Christine said as calmly as possible. "You might want to get up here...Something's happened to Sarah." She was still holding the phone to her ear as the blond Faye appeared beside her. He had poofed so quickly, there was barely any glitter to make her sneeze.<p>

"Where is she?" his voice was abrupt and focused, and Christine could see why Sarah couldn't kick him completely out of her life. There were moments when he became exactly what every woman wanted, just like his be-masked roomie.

Blinking, she shook her head, pointing towards the brunette's room, saying as he stalked to it, "She wasn't here when I got back, and I found _that_ when I checked in there."

Jareth stood and glared at the words painted on the back wall. "Can you find the Goblin Queen?"

"What is this all about, Jareth?" Christine had no desire to cross the threshold, but the other blond felt no such compunction. He moved around the room, stopping only once to pick up a small crystal from Sarah's desk. Speaking over his shoulder, he said, "You might want to go upstairs and keep Erik company for awhile." With that, he disappeared in a puff of glitter, leaving behind the graffiti and a very concerned opera singer.

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><p>Somewhere else, in a dark building, Sarah was sitting and trying not to fidget. Her captor, who's name seemed to work out as 'teatime', was moving from the room she was being held in to one hidden by a partially open door. It had been perhaps half an hour when his strange voice asked, "Mr. Sidney, have we had any visitors?"<p>

"None yet, Mr. Teatime." Of course the man pronounced it the _correct _way.

"Please let me know as soon as he arrives."

"Yes, Mr. Teatime."

Now, Sarah had lived through her own story, which really was much darker than some out there, but she'd never met someone quite like her present captor. After checking with his hidden accomplice, he returned to sit before her, staring at her in a disconcerting way. She knew she should be quiet...That to talk might mean there really never _would_ be a sequel, but she couldn't help herself. After all, this was the girl who'd told the Goblin King his Labyrinth was a piece of cake.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Following orders."

"Whose orders? You never did answer that question!"

"My employers."

"Yeah, I got that, but_ who are they_?"

"The people with the money."

"So, you're doing this because you're being paid?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"That _is_ what an assassin does, Miss Williams."

"An assassin!"

"Indeed," and here he threw in a slight giggle, which sent shivers up her spine like nails on a blackboard would.

"So, you're going to kill me?"

"Not unless the situation requires it."

"Beg pardon?"

"I have not been ordered to kill you...You are merely a convenient way of gaining their attention."

"Who's 'they'?"

"The others who live in your building."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"But..."

"So, in a way, I suppose you were right...I was told to empty the building, so you will probably die, after all." He giggled again, before reaching in her direction and stuffing a rag in her mouth. "Now, you will please stop talking...It begins to...grate on the ears. Anything, Mr. Sidney?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Keep watching...After all, we mustn't forget to greet royalty with all due respect."

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><p>Well? I'm building up to something, so don't send your minions after me!<p> 


	19. Talk of Literary Dimensions

A/N: Well, this one's short too, but you get two in one week, so no complaining! ^.^ I really liked the idea of having other people interact with Jareth on this venture, so we'll see if he can avoid the fail-field for a little while longer, shall we? Please enjoy chapter 19!

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><p>Most of the people who could claim to know Jareth, in any sense of the word, would have assumed, upon his discovery of Sarah's kidnapping, that he'd pelt off without thought in an attempt to get her back. However, while that might have been his course of action a decade or so before, he knew better now. After all, what kind of person would it be who'd grab the future Goblin Queen and then taunt, bloody <em>taunt<em>, the man who was in love with her? Said person was either incredibly stupid, or had some kind of greater plan in the works. With that in mind, he didn't even bother using a crystal to look for her. That might play right into their hands... So, instead of walking into a possible trap, he went looking for the two beings who never seemed to have quite the same amount of trouble that he and the others did.

A few moments later, he knocked once at one of the other apartments. Granted, he didn't wait for anyone to answer it, bypassing that bit of social nicety in favor of _poofing_. Crowley didn't even both to look up from his computer when the fay king appeared. A bit of forked tongue, however, didn't quite manage to hide itself away in time to avoid detection. In normal circumstances, Jareth would have made a comment. As things stood, though, he didn't want to waste the time.

Aziraphale began performing flag signals from the kitchen, obviously trying to keep the magical blond from bothering the snake. Approaching the angel, he asked, "What is going on and how does _he _fit in to it?"

"I don't _fit into it_," was the blunt response from the darker of the two celestial beings. "And they shouldn't either!"

Aziraphale sighed before saying, "They know better than to interfere in a place like this...They've been told over and over again 'Stick to your own literary dimension', but do they listen?" He sighed again before walking over and taking a seat on the couch.

Crowley spat out, "This place is unstable enough most of the time without _them_ sticking their metaphorical noses in!" Pushing away from his computer, he looked toward the two blonds. Meeting the angel's eye, he added, "From what I can tell, they've hired the guy who thought he could kill Death."

"Him? Wonderful. This just gets better and better..."

Jareth could feel his left eye twitching, which even the newest goblins knew meant something was likely to get bogged very soon. "Who," he bit out, "is _him_, and why would he kidnap Sarah?"

Both the angel and the snake turned their heads in his direction.

"Sarah?" asked the blond.

"Kidnapped?" asked the brunette.

"As I said, better and better," muttered the former while the latter allowed his tongue to flick in and out a few times in annoyance. "Although, you have to admit, it _is_ rather astonishing, in a way...They can't even succeed in their own universe, so what makes them think they'll win _here_?"

"For beings who hate humanity, and everything attached to it, they sure act like humans a good portion of the time, don't they?" Crowley chuckled darkly for a moment before coming back to the issue at hand. "But that doesn't answer the question as to why they'd kidnap Sarah. She doesn't have any overt magical powers. The closest she gets to it now is via association with the rest of us. And yes, I know Goblin King, in your mind she's already Queen, but not in the way which would actually _give _her any real powers. Being Queen in your mind and being Queen over the Labyrinth are two different things right now."

Jareth plopped down next to the angel and crossed his arms petulantly, mumbling under his breath, "Well, it's not for lack of trying..."

"Trust me, oh glittery one, we all know how much effort you put into getting yourself a queen. As I was saying, Sarah's always had a very creative mind, which, I suppose, could be one reason for her abduction, but that still doesn't fully explain this situation. Why her? With a building full of..." He trailed off and sat silent for a moment.

His more heavenly counterpart took up the verbal baton, "So that's what they're up to, is it? He took her because she really has no way of fighting back, but she's connected to a building teaming with the magically or manically inclined. The messiest of the messy are the magical and artistic. Isn't that so?"

"Still, they have no more jurisdiction here than any other literary or cinematic universe does, do they?" Crowley was smiling again, though not a one of those nice let's-be-friends smiles. It was more a I've-just-come-up-with-something-rather-ingenious-and-diabolical-but-you-probably-aren't-going-to-like-it-much-Aziraphale sort of grin.

The angel didn't miss the expression, although all he did was sigh. He knew better, after living with the serpent for as long as he had, than to argue against one of those smiles.

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><p>Jareth, an angel, and a snake...I can only imagine what's going to follow. Although, we shouldn't leave the others out, should we? I think it's about time for another Legalos, don't you? Reviews make me happy!<p> 


	20. Rosalinda to the Rescue!

A/N: Here's chapter 20! Since some of you probably haven't read Girls Next Door, which is the webcomic this story is based off, so I'll explain briefly that this is not going to be one of those stories that wraps up neatly. It will probably continue on, indefinitely. Part of the fun of GND is that there's always some new tension that comes up to make Sarah and Jareth (and Christine and Erik) go back a few steps. With that in mind, I write the chapters with no specific end in mind. They come from the ideas of the moment. Granted, the story contains plenty of mini-arcs...But that's because I can never quite figure everything out in one chapter! LoL!

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><p>Sarah couldn't help but feel rather mildly perturbed at all her apartment mates. After all, she was friends with a good majority of them, and the others really weren't friends with anybody, so they didn't count. She'd been sitting in the dark room for quite awhile now, and no one, repeat, NO ONE had bothered to show up. Not even Jareth...That man seemed to know when she did just about <em>anything<em> so where was he?

The blond man with the creepy eyes kept moving back and forth from one room to another and the hidden person in the other room was getting agitated. She could tell, thanks to the higher and higher pitch of his voice. Teatime gave no outward indication of increasing annoyance, but she could somehow tell he was not too pleased, either.

And then she heard a POP.

The man named Mr. Sidney became very excited very quickly, saying, "We've got him! It worked!" over and over and over again.

Teatime's voice held a grin that sent a shiver dancing up and down Sarah's spine. "Very good, Mr. Sidney. Now, it's only proper that we say...hello to our new guest. Don't you think so, Miss Williams?" She hadn't seen or heard him move, and he didn't spray glitter all over everything when he appeared out of nowhere, so his voice at her shoulder nearly caused her to fall over.

However, at nearly the same moment, they all heard another POP. And then another. And another. Within seconds, the rooms were filled with the POP POP POP POP POP POP POP of the spell, for what else could it be, going off over and over again in rapid succession.

"Mr. Teatime!" came the startled voice of the man's accomplice.

"What's going on Mr. Sidney?" he asked, still standing behind Sarah's chair. "I hope that nothing is wrong with your spell. That would make me very...unhappy."

"Things keep trying to materialize!" came the other man's voice again, this time his tone was nearing hysterical. However, they almost didn't hear him, thanks to the absolutely monstrous POP which seemed to shake the building they were hiding in. "I have to stop the spell!"

Before Teatime could say anything, which meant it happened _very quickly_, mumbled words could be heard from the other side of the door. As soon as he finished, the noises stopped. However, only a moment later, Sarah heard something hit the floor of the other room with a feathery SQUAWK!

"What was that, Mr. Sidney?" Teatime's voice hadn't changed, but he was now holding a knife loosely in his right hand.

"It's a...chicken, sir," the man said, walking through the connecting door. On his head was a pointy hat and in his hands he did indeed have hold of a chicken. It was black, and it locked it's eye on the girl as soon she came into view.

All Sarah could think was, _Jareth sent Rosalinda? Well, that's it then. I'm doomed.  
><em>

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><p>Back in the apartment building, Jareth watched the events play out in one of his crystals. As soon as the wizard had finished his incantation, he'd sent the chicken in to test everything. Seemed to be in order, which was a good sign. But, then again, he'd failed enough while living in that blasted building, that he never took any success for granted.<p>

Turning to face the assembled group, he said, "I think it's safe to assume I can _poof_ in now without any nasty side effects."

"Why couldn't you do it before?" asked Christine, who was sitting on the couch between Javert and Erik.

"I had a feeling that there was a trap of some kind," he explained, allowing the crystal to float in front of him for a moment while he cracked his knuckles. "And there was. No one would taunt me like that without being perfectly well aware of what I could do. Now the only question is-"

Here he was cut off by Crowley, who had just entered the room. "Are there any other nasty surprises waiting for you? Give it a minute, Angel might have found someone who can help."

"Hello," came a voice from the empty armchair. Or, it had been empty. Now someone was sitting there, her white hair containing one thick streak of black.

"This is Susan," said Aziraphale, appearing behind Crowley. "She's met the assassin before."

"His name's Teatime," she said, standing up and walking over to look into the crystal, "And he has a nasty habit of killing people who say it that way. I have to ask, though...Why a chicken?"

"Rosalinda is chicken champion!" came a small voice from the area of her calves. Everyone glanced down and saw one of Jareth's (many) goblins standing there. He was dressed in battle gear, which meant he had a colander on his head and tin foil wrapped around his middle. "She protect boss lady!"

"Indeed," Susan said, raising an eyebrow as she looked back at Aziraphale. "I suppose that makes about as much sense as anything."

"Miss...?" James began from his place behind Erik.

"Sto Helit," she answered, turning slightly so that she could see him.

"Of course. Miss Sto Helit, how exactly are you going to take care of this problem?"

"I haven't a clue, but, as my Grandfather says more than he probably should, 'I'm sure I'll think of something.'" Glancing back at the crystal, she smiled a rather unpleasant smile. "But as for him, he isn't hiding in a place of children this time. My powers should work just fine." And with that declaration, she snapped her fingers and the people in the bubble ground to a halt.

"Show off," muttered Crowley, as she turned and moved towards the door.

Susan paused, however, and partially turned to look at him. Raising one eyebrow, she asked in her best governess voice, "Beg pardon?"

He cleared his voice and said, "Nothing."

"That's what I thought. Now, if you would all follow me? I believe we have an assassin to find." Spinning back around, her cape swirled out behind her in perhaps a slightly more dramatic fashion than was its usual.

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><p>Susan is Death's granddaughter, for those of you who aren't familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. If you're curious about this character who can make Crowley apologize with a look, go to YouTube and type in Hogfather. The movie is awesome! And, if you think about it, both Crowley and Aziraphale are from a piece of literature, just like all the rest are. So Susan, being related to Death, is probably not that far from being their equal, in a literary sense.<p> 


	21. Snakes and Swords

A/N: Chapter 21, wherein Legolas makes another appearance and Crowley attempts to antagonize Susan. Does anyone else get the feeling the two have met before?

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><p>Susan didn't walk. That was too simple a word. Susan Sto Helit marched. Her steps were measured and controlled, wasting very little energy and with no superfluous movement at all. Also, she was not a fan of mechanic contraptions like elevators. She'd been raised in a world where such things were bound to throw you over a cliff in the name of science or they would free fall the entire length of the building because someone had forgotten to put brakes in (or they'd been cut because either you or someone you were with was being followed by an assassin). In any case, she preferred stairs if at all possible, and, in the moments where they weren't available, she'd snap her fingers and find another way.<p>

Their progress down the stairwell, was punctuated by the grumbling of some in their party. Susan, hearing this, spoke over her shoulder, "Would you all prefer that I put you in the elevator and allow it to drop all the way to the bottom? Because, as I'm sure you'll remember, time has been effectively put on pause for the time being. That also means things like friction won't work quite like you're used to. But if you all would _like _to fall down multiple stories, as well as enter the basement, please, go right ahead." The voices behind her stopped.

The unmistakable voice of a certain blond elf spoke up from the back of the pack. "Oh fair maiden, art you perhaps a sorceress? Do you perchance know the renowned wizard Gandalf?"

"No offense, but I can honestly say I've never been to Middle Earth, and I am certainly doubtful that a wizard from that literary and cinematic dimension would survive long on the Disc. The wizards there are much more likely to try to kill him in order to protect their pointy shoes and hats." The young woman said the last sentence in a rather exasperated manner. "Although, I suppose my grandfather might at least know who he is."

"Is he really Death," asked a wide-eyed Christine. In her head she couldn't help thinking how the girl's hair reminded her of someone she knew...But she was having a difficult time recalling who...

Then James said, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Mr. Todd, would you?"

"Who?" she asked, not stopping as they all rounded another corner.

"He's...well, he's got hair that's a bit like yours..." His voice hesitated a bit, as though unsure whether he should have spoken at all.

"Oh, well, I doubt it," Susan said, adding, "And I'm not related to Cruelle DeVille, either. Just covering the bases before we get there. I've had quite a number of children ask me that. And in answer to your question, Miss Daae, yes, he is. Scythe, cloak, ckill, and all."

A few moments later, they reached the final landing. In front of all of them, she walked straight through the door. Jareth followed her. And behind him strutted Crowley. Aziraphale sighed, shook his head slightly, and pulled the door open so that everyone else could walk through it.

By the time they were all in the apartment lobby, Jareth was holding another crystal out and both he and Susan were looking into it. Before anyone could say anything, she turned slightly to fix her gaze on Crowley.

"Where is this?" she asked, motioning to the still frozen scene in the bubble. Jareth couldn't help chuckle at the expression Sarah's face had frozen in, when she'd seen the chicken.

The snake gave a slow smile before saying, "I wondered how long it would take for you to ask."

Susan merely looked down her nose at him. Her hand was resting on the large sword strapped to her hip, and everyone was wondering what would happen if she pulled it on the brunette.

"Now, now, no need to get nasty." He held up both hands, though they all knew it was just a show.

Susan remained silent, watching him with the sort of penetrating stare all the children she'd ever taught attempted to avoid at all costs. No one wanted to see a perturbed Miss Susan...she was scary.

Crowley opened his mouth to say more (and Aziraphale looked about ready to smite his serpentine self) when Susan finally spoke. "I am here for one reason, Crowley." The way she said his name was the way many people said "slime" or "vomit". "And that is to take care of this Teatime business. You are now, and have always been, something of an annoyance. Therefore, if you want to help, then do so. If you don't want to, go right ahead and crawl back into the hole you came out of. And if you try to make lewd jokes right now, I _will_ use this sword, and while it might not kill you, it would still hurt much more than I think you realize. Now...WHERE ARE THEY?" The last few words were deep and sounded a bit like the falling lid of a stone coffin.

Crowley sighed dramatically, but said, "You don't have to use the Voice on me, Susan. They're down on Washington and Brooks. It's so cliched...old warehouse and all."

"Right, we'll all meet there," and with that statement, she spun around and walked through the front doors.

Aziraphale and Crowley dematerialized while the former was rebuking the latter for his attempt to tempt the young woman to draw the sword.

Jareth ended up with both Erik and Christine latching on to him, though the Phantom grumbled a little about having to get the glitter off after everything was done. Before he could poof, however, Javert grabbed ahold, as well. And then James joined the party. When Legolas made a move to do likewise, Jareth poofed away faster than Rosalinda could run. The elf could find his own way!

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><p>There you go! Next chapter, we get to see what Susan is going to do to Teatime ^.^ I'm just as excited to see what happens as you all are!<p> 


	22. Binky

A/N: Sorry folks! I got busy right around the holidays, and before that was NaNo...This chapter was originally going to be a bit longer, but you've all been so patient, I decided to move the rest of it into Chapter 23. Please enjoy!

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><p>Jareth and his entourage appeared a few feet from the designated location, and watched as the two angels appeared, the one still rebuking the other. They all looked around for Susan, but could see nothing.<p>

James spoke up and asked, "Did we get here before her?"

Crowley wandered over, snorting and said, "No. She's over there." He pointed to their left and everyone turned to look in that direction.

"What's with the horse?" James asked. And there was indeed a large white horse standing calmly only a dozen feet or so away. Susan was nowhere to be seen.

"That's Binky," explained Aziraphale, as the animal took a half-step sideways before settling back into stillness. "He belongs to her grandfather."

"He's just a normal horse, though," said Christine. "Shouldn't Death have something a bit more glamorous?"

"He used to," came the brisk voice of the granddaughter who was now standing beside Jareth. "But the one made of bones kept falling to pieces and the flaming one kept setting things on fire. So, he got Binky, who eats hay and needs a good brushing every day."

The elf hadn't shown up yet, so no extra and unnecessary comments flew about. This bit of silence allowed everyone the chance to get a good look at the building they were about to storm. It was large and looked very much like most empty warehouses one sees in the movies and in dangerous back alleys the world over. Broken windows here and there, a needlessly large padlock on the man door, garage doors that were probably well on their way to being rusted completely shut. Everything was present and accounted for!

Erik, who had seen plenty of dilapidated buildings in his time, was more interested in the pigeons which were in mid-flight off the top of the structure. Literally, in mid-flight. Time was still frozen, because he'd never seen a pigeon that could hover, perfectly motionless, like that. With that in mind, he said, "This should be fairly simple, then. All we have to do is walk in, bash him over the head a time or two, and then you can turn time back on, and everything will be taken care of."

"Unfortunately," Susan said before anyone could get their hopes up, "my powers don't work that way. Death doesn't kill."

The group was quiet for a moment, then Christine asked, "Death doesn't kill?"

"No. He doesn't. People die. That's the way of things. Sometimes, however, certain people need a little help with leaving their body behind. Then there's royalty and such...They get to see him simply as a matter of course." Susan's hair was straightening itself while she answered.

"So...how are we going to get Sarah back?" James was getting that sense of dejavu which seemed to go along with foolhardy endeavors of the damsel-saving kind.

"First, you need to understand fully what it is you're dealing with. Teatime isn't just any assassin. Apparently, no one really paid much attention to how _well_ he was getting on in certain classes...Most assassins in training don't make it past the final exam. It's entirely pass or fail. As in, you pass because you've survived or you fail because you've just met Grandfather. Teatime passed with no problems. At all. They weren't even sure that the man who'd given the test was still alive until he limped in a few hours later."

"So, you're saying he's an assassin who's much too good at his job..." said Christine.

"It's not a job for him. Money really isn't that important. From what I gathered the one other time I met him, he does what he does because it's a puzzle. He's the child who didn't just knock over an anthill, he poured water into it and burned the ones that tried to run away." Susan narrowed her eyes, adding, "Psychopath is what you call them here, I believe."

"So, we're dealing with a man who was taught to kill for money, but who already liked killing for the sport of it?" Erik was making sure he understood how it all fit together. He didn't see a few of the others eyeing him speculatively.

"In a nutshell, yes." Susan looked into the crystal Jareth was still holding.

"Well, that doesn't sound too difficult!" Erik was liking the odds more and more. The bloke seemed quite interesting, actually.

Christine sighed and rubbed at a spot on her forehead.

Jareth spoke up and said, "Sounds a bit familiar...wouldn't you say?"

"Do you want my help, Goblin King?" Susan asked, still studying the room inside the crystal. "Because if you do, I would suggest you stop trying to bait your apartment mate and focus on the task of rescuing the woman you so desperately want to marry."

Jareth spluttered a little at the insinuation that he wanted anything "desperately", but knew better than to deny it out loud. Too many people would probably side with her. And that would be undignified.

"Now then, are you all ready?" Susan asked before walking towards the warehouse. "It's time to set the stage."

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><p>In Chapter 23, we will get to see what Teatime has up his sleeve. Quite frankly, I'm as curious as you all...<p> 


	23. Extra Special 1  Oh My Aching Head!

A/N: You've all been so wonderfully patient with me, so I decided to reward you! ^.^ This is just a little extra chapter, really nothing more than another dream Sarah's had at some point during this whole thing. Or is it a dream? This has nothing to do with what is going on at the moment, but, then again, it never hurts to give a little breather when things are getting heavy. Aside from throwing Legolas in again, which I don't want to over do, this was the next best thing. Please enjoy!

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><p>She didn't feel well...Not at all. Her throat was killing her, she could barely see thanks to how watery her eyes were, and something had obviously decided that her head was a great place to have a marching band competition. Sarah hated when a migraine hit. Absolutely hated it. All the curtains were closed, which helped to keep the headache, if you could call the thing crawling around up there such, from eating its way out her eyeballs, but just barely.<p>

She knew she was going to miss classes, but, honestly, what was she supposed to do? If she stood up, she'd probably just pass out...And so, there she was, left to her own devices as everyone went about their daily routines. Christine was being as quiet as possible, but even her occasional clatterings hurt.

Keeping as still as possible, Sarah lay there with her eyes in a half-open, half-closed state, dreading the next time she would need to get up and use the bathroom. The last time had nearly killed her. She'd done her business and then spent the next five minutes with her head hanging over the sink, eyes closed, trying to make the pain go away.

Christine had finally come to the door and asked her in a whisper if she was alright. Sarah had simply held a hand out blindly, silently asking for help to get back to bed. Now she was lying back down, longing desperately for the oblivion of sleep. Surely the pain would at least be less there, if not completely gone. But the comforting nothingness was avoiding her, which made her rather upset. What had she ever done to it, after all?

An hour or so passed with Sarah lying in that way, glaring at nothing in the dark. Finally, she began to feel sleep stealing over her. But instead of an absent darkness and comforting silence, she found herself thrust into a dream. And the pain was still there...Pounding, and pounding, and pounding.

But in the dream she wasn't alone in the dark room. In the dream she felt an arm beneath her head and a heartbeat calmly working to her right. Sighing, she carefully tried to move closer. It was a comforting presence, even though she was still in pain. And then, a feather light touch brushed over her forehead, followed by a warmth pressing there briefly. As the person pulled away slightly, she heard a voice say, "Why didn't you say something, Precious? I fail to see why you make yourself go through such pain when I can so easily help you...It must be a human thing."

Her dreamself, now free from the debilitating pain of a few seconds before, opened her eyes and looked up at the face of her savior. The light blond hair hung around his expressive face, and his mismatched eyes stared down at her reproachfully. Reaching up she threaded her left hand through some of his hair and then gave a gentle tug so that his head lowered a bit.

"I've never liked being rescued, Jareth...You know that. Besides, you enjoy getting to play the hero, whether I'm a willing damsel or not." With that said, she placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth, adding, "Thank you."

Pulling away and letting go of his hair, she placed her head up against his chest, took a deep breath of his familiar scent, and went to sleep. A lovely, painless sleep.

When the real Sarah woke up awhile later, she was pleased to see that the pain she'd felt earlier was completely gone. Stretching herself a bit, she turned to look at the clock, and saw something that stopped her in mid-motion. There, beside her on the bed, was a slight depression. Nothing much and easily missed by almost anyone else, but Sarah knew what it was. Jareth had come into her room...again! And he hadn't even had the courtesy to wake her up so she could yell at him. Putting her hand down, she grew even more upset. It was still bloody warm! The jerk had left as soon as she started to wake up! That wasn't fair...Then again, when did Jareth play fair.

Throwing her legs off the side of the bed, she noticed a note sitting on her desk. Picking it up, she saw, in Jareth's familiar loopy scrawl, "I hope you feel better, Precious...I hate to think you'd let yourself suffer just to spite me."

Reaching up, she touched her forehead as she reread the note. Had she dreamt him doing that...or had it been real? Putting the note back down, she left the room. It was strange enough having vivid dreams about Jareth doing things like that, but she couldn't quite handle the idea that some of those dreams were...real.

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><p>As I said before, this was not meant to sit as the next chapter of this story...Now that you've had your breather (and I've had mine), I might be able to figure out what Teatime is up to ^.^<p> 


	24. Did You Doubt Me?

A/N: Well, hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint anybody...I had an interesting time trying to write it. That's what I get for including someone like Teatime though, isn't it? A bit like trying to write the Joker, I imagine. Anyway, here it is! And Jareth gets to be all Jareth-y!

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><p>Sarah was staring incredulously at the chicken which the wizard held when the room was suddenly quite full of people. The scary blond man was still standing behind her, so she wasn't sure what he made of it. The wizard, though, threw the chicken into the air and made a dash for the door. No one bothered to stop him. Then Teatime started talking, and she forgot about the man in the pointy hat. In fact, she found herself feeling an instinctive desire to quickly move far, far away from him, yet knowing, also instinctively, that do so could spell her doom. So, like many other confused characters over the years, she froze. Eyes wide, she stared at the motley group ranged a few feet in front of her, with, she hoped, enough desperation in her face to make someone do something!<p>

Teatime's words finally began to register in her brain as he said, "Miss Sto Helit! What a pleasure it is to see you! After all, our last meeting ended so abruptly... And you've brought such a lovely group of people with you!"

Sarah saw, from the corner of her eye, that Erik was looking at her kidnapper a bit askance. Turning a little, he glanced down at the young opera singer at his side. Mumbling, he said, "That's him? Sounds a bit like a nursery reject to me...And what's with the hair?"

"Remind you of anyone?" came the unmistakable drawl of Crowley, who was standing on her other side.

His more heavenly counterpart shot him a quelling glance, asking "You're in great form today, aren't you?" The snake smirked in return.

Sarah had quickly catalogued the rest: James, who she knew hated the very idea of damsel rescuing, was on one side of the strange woman whom Teatime had addressed. On her other side, Javert had both feet planted and both arms crossed. He was watching the assassin with a focused eye, just waiting for him to step wrong.

One person, she realized almost immediately, was conspicuously absent. Her erstwhile stalker was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't even a slightly glittery trace of him. While she still felt the desperation of removing herself from the crazy man at her back, she also found a sense of confusion rising up underneath it. Why in the name of glitter hadn't Jareth come, too? Was something wrong with him? Had he suddenly turned coward? She doubted that last one...If nothing else, Jareth was foolhardy when it came to believing his own press. But then why wasn't he there, too? Confusion started to give way to frustration. The one bloody time I truly need him to help and he gets all petty because I wouldn't make a wish! Git...

The woman whom Teatime had addressed was watching him the same way a fed-up teacher watches a chronically disruptive student. Her dark eyes looked down her upturned nose with the same condescending air. When she spoke, she voice even had the crack of authority often associated with detention and notes home. "Running around doing the Auditors dirty work again, are you?"

"Whatever gave you that idea, Miss Sto Helit?" came the boyish voice at Sarah's back. Was it her imagination, or had he gotten closer? "I merely wanted to have a word with the illustrious Goblin King..."

"And the snake owns a halo," spat the woman, her eyes narrowing.

"I did, once," Crowley said, his eyes, covered by his ubiquitous sunglasses, pointed towards the hands now in his pockets, he added, "But I'm not sure happened to it."

"So what is it this time?" continued the woman, her left hand resting lightly on the hone hilt of what looked to be a large sword. "Still too messy for them all? Whatever the contract with you was, it doesn't have any legality here, which I'm sure you're well aware of. In this world, Disc rules don't apply. Murder and assassination are illegal!"

"There's a place where murder's legal?" came the soft, though slightly excited, voice of the Phantom. Christine shushed him.

Teatime giggled at Sarah's back, saying, "But I hold one of the 'keys', don't I? Rules? You're just trying to distract me now, Miss Sto Helit. Tut tut... Don't do that. It's so annoying. Now then, shall we move on to more important business?" Suddenly Sarah found herself standing, her back pressed up against the black clad man-child. A knife was quite obviously pressing against her neck, which was disconcerting, to say the least. Before she could do more than _squeak_, he said, in frighteningly pleasant voice, "Come out, come out, Goblin King! You're missing all the fun..."

Sarah was now staring fixedly at the ceiling, her body stiff. Why in the world was this crazy person so intent on getting hold of Jareth? All sorts of horrid possibilities played through her head before she forced herself to be rational. This was Jareth, after all? The fail-field seemed to love him over just about anybody else...More than likely everything would be fine!

They all stood like that for a minute or two.

Crowley started to chuckle on her left, then said, "He's a villain with a crush...not Superman."

Teatime stiffened slightly, almost imperceptibly. "If that's the case, then we won't be needing Miss Wiliams anymore, will we?" His voice had gotten quite a bit harsher, which made him sound much less like a demented child and much more like a frustrated young man.

Everything seemed to slow down for a few seconds and Sarah could have sworn she felt the muscles in the man's arm move to slit her throat. Clenching her eyes shut, the world sped back up again just in time for her to feel that disconcerting feeling of being _poofed_. Once she'd managed to see through the enormous burst of glitter which filled the room, she looked around in a rather shell shocked way.

On the floor a few feet from her lay Teatime, his neck and shoulders wrapped in a familiar rope, while James and Javert each had hold of an arm. Crowley was standing near the assassin's feet, a small smirk on his face.

As soon as her mind ascertained the fact that her throat had indeed not been slit, she began to realize that, once again, someone was holding her pressed against them. This time, though, the body was warm and she recognized the hands that were moving up and down her arms. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she turned herself until all she could see was white, fluffy shirt and long blond hair. Wrapping both arms around him, she muttered, face pressed to his front, "Took you bloody long enough!"

His chuckle sent a shiver through her frame, which she late claimed was only due to her harrowing experience. His head lowered and he brushed her hair to one side so that he could say directly into her ear, "Did you doubt me, Precious?"

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><p>Awwwwww! Reminder: she's only letting him hold her like that (and clinging as she is) because of her recent traumatic experience... ^.^ Cheers!<p> 


	25. I Can't Kill You, You Can't Kill Me

A/N: Okay all you lovely little goblins, here you go! This chapter is a little short, but I wanted to finish with Teatime, if possible, and I've managed to do that. If you don't like how I handled that...I'm sorry? Teatime is incredibly difficult to write. He's like the Joker: essentially creepy and unpredictable. I'll leave him alone from now on.

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><p>At his softly intoned comment, Sarah couldn't help but lean slightly to one side so that she could see a portion of his face. "After you sent in <em>Rosalinda<em>? Quite frankly, Jareth, I was beginning to wonder what my tombstone was going to look like." Having said her peace, she returned her head to its former position of trying to avoid seeing anything but fluffy, white shirt.

His second chuckle sent yet another tremor through her form, though this time she admitted to herself that it probably had less to do with the recent assassination attempt and more to do with the fact that Jareth had actually managed to save her. The Goblin King simply took her continued clinging as it was for the moment, graciously not making any snarky comments about how she seemed to be attempting to become one with this shirt. Instead, his hands ran lightly up and down her back as her heart slowly climbed out of her throat and took up its previous position behind her breastbone.

Obviously they hadn't gagged the blond assassin, for Sarah clearly heard him say, "What fun! Miss Sto Helit, this is really something special! But, I am sorry to say, I don't have time to play games. There are things to be done...and you're in my way." His last comment sent a shiver down Sarah's spine. His voice had sunk more than an octave and in it was a sense of restrained of violence. She had always thought Mr. Todd was over the edge insane. Teatime was quickly proving how wrong she was. Mr. Todd was actually a revenge driven man who just happened to go about gaining said revenge through merciless throatslitting. The blond man who had kidnapped her was much more frightening. And dangerous.

Following his blunt statement, his recent hostage heard only silence at her back. Jareth, though, stiffened and his hands stilled in their absent-minded movements. Pulling back from him a little, she glanced up at his face. He was watching something fixedly and Sarah had a sinking suspicion that something had happened which spelled trouble. Taking a deep breath, she turned and looked over her shoulder in the direction of the downed assassin. Well, he _had_ been the downed assassin. Now he was standing several feet from his erstwhile captors, a blank expression gracing his boyish features.

Erik was looking at him mild astonishment, though she noticed he was carefully keeping himself between Christine and Teatime. Sarah was actually rather surprised he'd even allowed her blond roommate to come along to rescue her, but Christine got what Christine wanted...

Even though Teatime had managed to escape his three human assailants, that still left the obviously not-quite-all human Miss Sto Helit, the serpent, and his more heavenly apartmentmate. Crowley hadn't moved at all, but Sarah could tell from his expression that he everything which was taking place was being cataloged for later use. Aziraphale was still standing a little to Jareth's right, although he too was focused on the assassin.

Said assassin's mismatched eyes were darting from one face to another quicker than Sarah honestly thought should be humanly possible. However, they finally landed on the woman with the two-tone hair and the massive sword. Smiling in a nasty way, he asked, "Will your grandfather be going this little gathering, Miss Sto Helit?"

The woman shrugged in an easy way that Sarah envied her for. Here they all were, facing an obviously psychotic man who could kill almost faster than Jareth could _poof_, and she merely shrugged in a nonchalant, what-a-nice-day-it-is-for-a-picnic sort of way.

"But wait!" he exclaimed, the nasty smile entering his voice and making Sarah wince. "You yourself said that the rules are different here...Makes one wonder what else is different. For instance, if I can't kill them, then you can't kill me."

"Again," the woman said, watching him closely as he took a step or two nearer to her.

He froze for a moment, a look of extreme irritation flashing over his face before it smoothed out once again. Nodding his head slightly, he said, "Again." Granted, while his face was calm, his voice had held a note of bitterness which none of them could miss.

"And you're right,"she added, as he came forward another few steps. "You can't kill me, and I can't kill you. That's how this world works. However," and as she said it, Crowley and Aziraphale both appeared between them, "these two can at least send you back to where both you _and_ your employers belong."

And as soon as she said it, he was gone. A faint shimmering appeared in the far corner, which produced a hiss and a quickly cut off reedy voice. Then nothing. It was all still. Sarah held her breath for a moment or two though, just in case Teatime had a trick or two up his sleeve and he poked his head out from behind something.

Crowley, a smirk on his face, looked over his shoulder at Jareth. Peering over the top of his sunglasses, he asked, "Jealous?"

Jareth simply tightened his arms around Sarah, put his head down on top of hers, and said in a rather waspish way, "Stupid fail field..."

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><p>Crowley just couldn't help rubbing in the fact that he can work around the fail field while Jareth is pretty much shut down by it almost each and every time. Although, he <em>did<em> manage to save Sarah without any huge hits from it...yet ^.^


	26. Susan Finds a Gordian Knot

A/N: I'm back with another chapter and it hasn't been a full week? *gasp* I actually had this idea floating around in my head when I finished chapter 24, so I decided to hand it over a little early ^.^ Please enjoy!

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><p>"How is this <em>my<em> fault!" Jareth's demand screeched around the room, ricocheting off the walls a few times before it reached a more normal volume.

Sarah was studiously ignoring him as she snuggled into Ludo's side, a blanket tightly wrapped around her lower body. It didn't matter that the Goblin King was attempting to break the sound barrier with his outrage, all she cared about was the hot cup of tea in her hands and the fact that no assassins were lurking behind her couch.

Jareth sighed forcefully, a puff or two of indignant glitter falling to the floor as he dragged a hand through his hair. "Honestly Sarah, this is ridiculous! I had no idea anything had happened to you until Christine called and said someone had graffitied your room." As soon as they'd returned to the apartment, Sarah had requested Ludo, which was never a good sign...If she wanted the big, hairy creature, than it was likely he, King of the Underground, was not just _in_ the doghouse, but chained to it.

Looking around the room, which held their entire rescue party, excluding the elf, who seemed to have gotten lost or sidetracked, Jareth tried to get someone to stand up for him. Before he could begin his round of begging, however, a voice spoke up from the armchair.

Susan, who'd managed to be introduced to Sarah at some point between getting rid of Teatime and the silent temper tantrum, placed her tea cup down on the coffee table and stood. "Really, Miss Williams. Is this _quite _necessary?"

Sarah's green eyes widened and turned towards the granddaughter of Death. Her face was both incredulous and questioning.

Sighing, Susan moved around the furniture so that she was standing at an angle to both Jareth and his young love interest. "While I understand that this dimension tends to put constraints on certain characters and their heroic abilities, I have a feeling such is not the case at the present time. Are you upset about being rescued? Because that makes no logical sense after you willing accepted his presence during the event. That being the case, I can only assume that _this_" at which point she waved to indicate Sarah's swathed form, "is simply your way of being embarrassed and pigheaded, all at the same time."

Sarah's cheekbones turned a bit pink, but she didn't flush like a rip tomato. That meant Susan had spoken a small bit of the truth, but not all of it. Snapping her fingers with a quick movement, leaving only the two of them unfrozen, she said, "Or is it that you're afraid of letting him too close?"

Now the young woman's face was glowing as bright as a stop light. Glancing in the king's direction, she exclaimed, "Of course not!"

"Don't lie to me, Miss Williams," Susan sighed. "And don't worry, he can't hear you."

"He...can't?" Sarah asked.

"No. So I'm going to say it again: Are you afraid of allowing him into your life?" Susan saw no reason to dance around the point. It was quite obvious to _her_ that it wasn't simply something Crowley called 'the fail-field' keeping Jareth and Sarah apart. The woman herself was causing quite a few of the problems.

"No!...Maybe...I guess, sometimes..." Hugging the blanket even tighter to herself she refused to meet Susan's eyes.

"I understand that the two of you have a history, one which includes some childish antics and jealousy on his part. However," she added before Sarah could interrupt, "if you need proof that he would do anything for you...including hold himself back instead of rushing headlong into a magical setup, then I fail to see why you are still prevaricating."

Rubbing her face in a tired way, Sarah finally met her eyes. "Look, Susan...Jareth can be charming and very caring. Trust me, I know. But I think you're forgetting: he and I are two different species. In his world, he has power most people could never imagine. But in my world I'm just an every day, average human. The Fae aren't exactly known for their empathetic abilities and humans aren't exactly known for their invulnerability. He could kill me, Susan. He could lash out in a way which most Fae would think perfectly normal and I could end up dead. And while I have absolutely no desire to die like that, it wouldn't be just me who was hurt. No matter what they all think, I'm well aware that he cares for me, even, in his own way, loves me. But if he were to truly be himself around me, it might very well kill him. So no matter what you all say, I have very little choice but than to keep him at arms length. Maybe I'm selfish in not finding some way to make him leave me alone permanently, but I think I would miss him if he were suddenly just...gone."

"So you'll continue to play this game with him?" Susan's face showed Sarah nothing.

Sarah nodded, sighing again as she asked, "Please don't say anything to him...Or to any of them." She indicated the frozen people populating her living room. "After all," she added, a sad smile on her face, "I'm supposed to be the heroine...and this all makes me sound a bit like the villain."

"I will respect your request and not say anything about this conversation. However, I would like to say something pertaining to your fears. While they are completely justified, I don't think they're fully accurate. Have you spoken to Jareth about any of this?"

Sarah shook her head quickly, eyes widening. "Are you kidding? It would be like handing him an engraved invitation!"

"I see...It really isn't my place, but I'll say it anyway." Susan's eyes grabbed and held Sarah's. "You need to have a little faith in him. If you do, I think you'll be surprised on what sort of relationship you two can have. Surely he knows enough about himself and about you to not purposefully place you in harms way. And besides, who's to say whether you won't gain a bit of power in the process?" And with that statement, time returned to its proper place and Jareth was once again looking at her.

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><p>And Susan has now unearthed Sarah's Gordian Knot...Will anyone ever find a pair of scissors big enough to cut it? LoL! Hope everyone liked it!<p> 


	27. A Job For The King

A/N: Susan thinks its time for Sarah/Jareth alone time ^.^

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><p>As the building's clocks resumed their measured ticking, Sarah watched Jareth's eyes widen rather comically before narrowing to angry slits. While his gravity defying cloak didn't suddenly wrap itself around him in glitter pulsing angst, she could tell it really wanted to.<p>

Before he could start screeching again, this time about the unfairness of Susan's selective time-freezing abilities, Aziraphale spoke from his place in the kitchen. "Would anyone like more tea? I even have some coffee cake in our apartment, if someone would want a snack!"

Christine quickly agreed that coffee cake sounded wonderful, and that if anyone wanted coffee instead of tea, she could be glad to make some.

Sarah was no longer spitefully ignoring Jareth, which would be rather difficult to do after the conversation she'd just had, but she'd yet to actually _say_ anything to him. She knew that her reaction had been a bit...well, immature and ungrateful, but what else could she do? Every time she responded to him in a positive way, he jumped six steps ahead. If she was glad to see him, he heard wedding bells! If she allowed the dream him to snuggle with her, he was counting their future children! That fell under "cheating" in her book. And while he liked to laugh her 'fair fixation', that didn't mean she would suddenly start letting him have his own way with everything...More than likely, they'd all end up drowned in glitter. Wouldn't that make a wonderful headline? **Building Bedazzled: Randy Royal Receives Praise, Glitter Astonishes Rescue Team!**

Susan, who had been watching the affronted royal, walked up to him and said something softly enough that Sarah couldn't hear. Granted, with the amount of nervous noise coming from the rest of the group, the woman could have been belting an aria and it still would have been unintelligible

Crowley though, still standing by the window, didn't seem hampered by the noise. At Susan's words, his face, which already had a small smirk on it, split into a full-blown grin. Glancing over the top of his ever present sunglasses, he caught Sarah's eye and winked. Seeing Crowley wink was a bit like seeing an actual snake do so...Sarah found herself burrowing a little closer to Ludo, who hadn't really said anything since she'd called for him.

A frightening thought presented itself then though...had Crowley overheard her conversation with Susan? Sarah was mortified, and just a little apprehensive. After all, the snake was no Azira, although they'd _both_ proven once before that they weren't above interfering, here and there. She still hadn't quite forgiven them for handing her over to Jareth while she'd been inebriated...

As the noise level from the kitchen continued to mask any other sounds in the room, Sarah allowed a small sigh to escape. If Azira had overheard, his honor would probably keep him quiet. He was the good one, after all. However, seeing that Crowley might also have listened in, she could foresee some bumps coming along the way. If he felt like making things more interesting, Ludo might become a permanent fixture in their apartment.

Jareth drew her attention from her ponderings at that moment, though. Turning away from both Susan and Sarah, he moved towards the rest of the group. Poking Erik in the shoulder, he said something to the masked. Glancing over the king's shoulder, he looked in Sarah's direction before nodding and finishing his piece of coffee cake in two more bites. Within five minutes or so, everyone but Christine, Sarah, Ludo, Susan, and the two angels had made their excuses and fled. Azira was obviously trying to get Crowley to leave, though Sarah could tell he was also rather interested in what was going to happen next.

Finally taking the hint, Crowley nodded at the blond before stopping and going to his heels next to the brunette. Looking her straight in the eye over his glasses, he said simply, "Live a little."

Azira, whose hearing was just as good as the snake's, snorted quietly from his place by the door. He finally ushered his apartment mate out of the room, softly chiding him on making things worse. Christine waved after them before quietly disappearing into her own bedroom.

Sarah was left with Death's granddaughter and the Goblin King. Oh, and Ludo...But he was there more for moral support. And then, Susan was gone and Jareth was kneeling in front of her and Miss Williams found herself fighting back a telltale moisture which was pooling in her eyes..

"Precious...are you alright?" The soft words caused a tear to escape, even though Sarah commanded herself not to show any weakness.

She sniffled.

"Did he hurt you?" Jareth was leaning closer now, one gloved hand resting lightly on her arm.

She felt another tear fall, though she ignored that one, too.

"Sarah," her name held a bit more force as his hand rose to nudge her chin up. "Answer me, sweetling. Did he harm you?"

All she could do was shake her head in the negative. Her throat had constricted as she thought back over the recent events of her kidnapping. The soft, childlike voice of the assassin slid through her mind once again, and she couldn't help but shudder slightly. He would have hurt her if Jareth and the rest of them hadn't shown up...Hurt her badly.

As she began to cry in earnest, finally realizing how close she'd come to being seriously injured, if not mortally so, she felt Jareth sit down beside her and pull her partially into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he rocked her back and forth, waiting for the tears to slow.

"I"m sorry we didn't get to you sooner, Precious...There's no excuse for it. I suppose I thought no one would be stupid enough to attack you while I was so near. I have learned my lesson. It won't happen again." His tone was hard but his hand soft as it ran through her hair.

Even as her heart beat a little faster at the promise of his protection, she felt her stomach sink a bit. It never boded well for their relationship when he tried to be all manly and protective. Maybe it had something to do with his affection for fluffy shirts and glitter...Either way, she couldn't help but pull back from him, wipe her eyes on the edge of her blanket, and say resolutely, "I will not have goblins following me around everywhere, Jareth. My life is complicated enough as it is without having to explain a tin-foil and feather encrusted retinue."

Jareth allowed her to slide back to her previous place against Ludo, though he did lean forward and say, very close to her ear, "Protecting you isn't going to be the job of a few minions...It's going to be the job of the King."

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><p>Aaaaaand...wait for it...Fail-field striiiiiiikes...Maybe in the next chapter? LoL! You'll have to check and see, won't you? Thanks to all the lovely little goblins who review this ^.^ I love knowing it makes people happy!<p> 


	28. It Was A Dark and Scary Night

A/N: I had some trouble starting this one...Maybe it's because I was originally planning to use a dream sequence? Nothing was really working, though, so I put those ideas aside and tried to come up with something else. What I ended up with makes me pretty happy, however, so I'm glad I went this way instead ^.^ Please read and enjoy!

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><p>She couldn't help it... It was hard to be alone so soon after being kidnapped by a freaky phsycopath. Curled around her pillow, she snuggled deeper into Ludo's side. Normally, she wouldn't have kept him in the apartment for that long. He was a great friend, but he shed worse than a dozen Persians suffering from incurable hair loss. However, things being what they were, she'd worry about the state of her vacuum later. All the lights were still on, too. Looking over at the clock, she almost groaned. Two in the morning...only two? She wanted to go to sleep, desperately <em>needed<em> to go to sleep, but her eyes just wouldn't close. Even knowing that Ludo offered some protection, she coudn't relax enough to even doze off.

Another hour passed, filled with Sarah flipping through some of her feel good fairy tales. Some young women would have pulled out their romance novels, the ones with pictures which still made her blush...Christine probably had a few in her room somewhere, but they'd never done much for her PG friend. After all, the stories seemed so contrived. And what were the relationships based on, anyway? What would happen when those characters were old and grey with wrinkles and sagging bits...the only point of attraction would have disappeared! She'd tried one or two...but always ended up coming back to her "old fashioned snorefests" (that being what one of her high school friends had called them).

Somewhere between two and three, a few little goblins had shown up and joined her against Ludo. This wasn't completely out of the ordinary for them, so Sarah didn't think much about it. After Jareth's rather pointed statement earlier in the afternoon, she'd been rather surprised when he'd calmly poofed away, leaving her with Ludo and Christine. And then, when night had fully fallen, she'd been even more surprised when he hadn't shown up making suggestions about snuggling to keep the scary men away. Maybe he was finally growing up just a bit...Then again, maybe it was all just a trap. With Jareth, as with a few other of their buildingmates, it was best to stay on ones toes.

The presence of the little creatures seemed to calm some portion of her frenzied and freaked out brain, however, for she found herself starting to actually slip in and out of consciousness just about the time her clock hit three. In the bleary state of half-waking, half-sleeping, Sarah couldn't help but note the hour. Three in the morning had connections with magic and otherworldly beings...but she couldn't quite remember what. As her brain was attempting to sluggishly recall that information, she felt two arms wrap around her and lift her into the air. Groggily struggling, beginning to worry about another kidnapping, she felt a voice near her ear.

"Calm down, Precious...We can't have you sleeping on the floor, can we?" The voice was accompanied by a soft chuckle.

Blinking a bit, Sarah managed to bring herself awake enough to recognize the mismatched eyes looking down at her.

"Jareth..."she slurred as he placed her down on the bed. The goblins who had arrived before him managed to pull the covers out of the way just as he was doing so. Taking the blankets from them, he tucked her in. However, when the lights suddenly turned off, plunging her into a thick darkness, her eyes came completely open. No longer drifting in the middle space between waking and sleeping, she yelped.

Darting from under the covers, she ran smack into the man who'd just placed her there. As his arms came back around her, he muttered with a sigh, "I had a feeling something like this would happen..."

"I need the lights _on_, Jareth," Sarah said as forcefully as possible, her body shaking slightly. "Turn them back on. Now."

"Sarah-" he began, but was interrupted before he could continue.

"_Now_, Jareth!" Her voice was no longer just forceful, now it also held a hint of panic.

Instead of the overhead light flooding the room with sterile, fluorescence or even the desk lamp's shallow beam brightening up the corner, she found herself looking at a small, glowing crystal. The hand which held it moved towards the bedside table, where the object created a puddle of light which Sarah felt drawn to like a moth to flame.

"Better?" The arms which went along with the voice shifted so that ghostly hands could move softly up and down her back.

All she could do was nod in response. So much had happened in the span of a day that Sarah was beginning to truly feel overwhelmed. Even the peach-induced crystal daydream hadn't brought on emotions like she was then experiencing. It was all very disconcerting!

"I'm assuming that you have class tomorrow, sweetling, which means you really do need to get your rest. Now, back into bed you go..." And with that statement, he soon had her under the covers and tucked in once again.

Perhaps it had something to do with her earlier traumatic experience, or the crystal nightlight. She could also blame it on the dimness of the room, or the lateness of the hour. Then again, his protective declaration of the afternoon might have played a part...Whatever the case was, she found herself latching onto his arm as he turned to leave. Ludo had chased some of the fears away, but she could feel them beginning to creep back in around the edges of her mind. In the morning, she'd growl at her goblin stalker just like always, but at the moment his presence could serve as a buffer between her and the shadows.

In a small voice, recalling all the things she'd said to Susan only a few hours earlier, she murmured, "Could you...stay here...just for a little while? I...I'm...Please, Jareth..."

The request seemed to stun the glittery snarkiness straight out of him, for it took him a moment before he haltingly answered, "If...If you're sure?"

He paused in the process of sitting on the floor beside her bed when she said quietly, "Thank you...but don't think this means anything." The comment lacked its normal heat, but he seemed to take it in stride.

Chuckling lightly under his breath, he assured her, "I wouldn't _dream _of it, Precious."

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><p>*gigglesnort* Jareth really likes having the last word in these chapters...But, what am I supposed to do when he hands me a great ending line? LeSigh...Anyway, let me know what you all think! Reviews give me warm fuzzies...and it's winter, so I need plenty of those!<p> 


	29. Baby Fine Hair

A/N: Here's the next little installment in the mad story which is Only a Dream! If any of you are curious, there's an image I did over on dA which goes along with the end of the last chapter and the beginning of this one. I'll try to put the link on my profile ^.^ Please enjoy!

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><p>Sarah sat on the couch, running her hands contentedly through her husband's baby fine, blond hair. Sometimes she couldn't help but feel seethingly jealous of that hair...but he seemed to enjoy playing with hers nearly as much as she did playing with his. At the moment, however, his eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling steadily. For being an immortal, he seemed to enjoy his sleep as much as any human.<p>

She continued to stroke gently through his hair as she watched the firelight play across his face. He wasn't handsome...his nose was too big, for one thing. And his chin was too pointy. His eyes were mismatched, and they had the unsettling ability to look straight down into a person. No, he would never have made it as a model...even though he loved glitter more than any prima donna. But, even without being beautiful in the conventional way, he still had a _presence_...it had drawn her to him even back when she was fifteen and hormonal.

When she'd taken that absolutely _giant_ leap of faith all those years before and finally agreed to marry him, she'd prayed to whatever gods were listening that it would all turn out for the best. To her immense surprise and shock, everything had gone off smashingly. Granted, there had been a few months of mishaps, but most newlyweds had those. And Susan had been proved correct in more than one way. While she'd gained the political power of a queen, she'd also picked up a few little magical tricks along the way...Now when he bedazzled the living room, she could snap her fingers and _poof_, cleaner than any rent-a-maid could ever get it. In a way, she shouldn't have been that surprised...After all, how many fairy tales had she read growing up? While there were plenty where everyone died in horribly gruesome ways, there were also a few, here and there, where the heroine truly did live _happily ever after_. And Sarah's happy ending had included a hint of immortality and a dash of magic. Worked for her!

She was drawn back from reminiscing by her husband's body moving slightly beneath her hand. His face was now turned to press close to her middle, which was just beginning to show a baby bump. Sighing softly, he proceeded to slip back into sleep. When she'd been pregnant with the twins and then again with their sister, he'd shown a similar desire to be as near the child as possible as often as possible. Chuckling to herself, she watched the flames in the fireplace until they began to die down. Her family was definitely different, but she wouldn't give them up for the anything...not even the stars.

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><p>When Sarah woke up the next morning, it was to find herself almost on the very edge of the bed, blond hair tickling her nose. Her left hand, at some point during the night, had gotten itself tangled up in Jareth's hair. Being careful to not wake the still sleeping royal, she sat up and glanced around. Ludo had either left on his own or Jareth had sent him away. However, after seeing the floor, she knew the vacuum was going to hate her again. She sighed quietly. And they'd just got back on speaking terms, too.<p>

Her blanket, which had somehow ended up half-covering her visitor, she pushed completely on top of him, standing up as he blinked a few times. Stretching, he too stood. Her dream from the night before played in her mind as he hummed a little, deep in his throat, loosening up his back.

"Any monsters haunt your dreams, Precious?" His eyes watched her inquisitively.

Fairly certain he hadn't seen anything, she shrugged and simply said, "Nothing more than normal."

"Oh...So you dreamt about me?" His face held a bit of pride as her cheekbones warmed.

"Thanks for your help, Jareth, though the whole let's-kidnap-Miss-Sarah-Williams thing still comes straight back to you. However," and at this she raised a hand to stop him from interrupting, "I understand that you, in some ways, were just as much a victim as I was. And that is all the sympathy you're going to get from me where this subject is concerned."

Sighing and shaking his head a little, he picked up the blanket she'd dumped on him and threw it over the foot of her bed. "Don't I even get a good morning kiss?" His tone had turned wheedling, and he was obviously trying to appear as fluffy-widdle-owl like as possible. Reaching out quickly, he snagged one of her arms and brought her towards him as he rook a seat on the side of her bed. She found herself locked in his lap, her arms stuck at her sides as he said, "Just one little kiss?"

Before she could answer him with a scathing, you-are-a-slimy-pervert-who-can't-take-what-he's-been-given-and-just-go reply, the door flew open to admit a flustered Christine. She was already half-way through her sentence before the door reached the wall, however, so all Sarah really heard was, "gone missing. Erik thinks Teatime tried..." Seeing Sarah sitting on Jareth's lap, however, kept her from continuing. "OH! Sorry! I'll just go and-"

"It is _not_ what you're thinking, Chris..."Sarah said as she worked one arm free. Turning her head so that she could see Jareth's face, which was exhibiting extreme signs of pouting, she laughed and said, "It's like the building just lies in wait for you! Now, let go. After all, your roomie is obviously rather worked up."

Grumbling under his breath about men who spent too much time in theaters, he allowed her to leave his lap. Although, as soon as Christine's face was out of sight, he walked up behind the brunette and said, snickering as he did so, "Like my hair, do you Precious?"

Her face flushed as she spun around, but all she found was a hint of glitter in the air and a small note lying on the carpet. Leaning over, she gingerly picked it up. Her face got even warmer.

It read: "And you tried to snuggle...again."

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><p>And for those of you are fans of Girls Next Door, that last line will make perfect sense. For those who have never read Girls Next Door, I'll try to put the link for that page on my profile, as well ^.^<p> 


	30. The Pinky Plan

A/N: Sorry that this one took so long! I honestly hadn't though it would. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

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><p>After going to class, Sarah reentered her bedroom dragging the vacuum cleaner behind her. The machine was obviously pouting and being purposefully annoying because it got caught in the door as she tried to bring it towards the pile of brownish fur. Chrisitine <em>never<em> had issues with the blasted contraption. _Ever_. It purred along as though the opera singer had tamed the wildness of its inner gears.

Grumbling to herself, Sarah managed to force the fur into the monster which she was made to clean with. The thing wasn't even that old! When she complained to Chris about its attitude, however, all she got was a chuckle from the blond woman and a comment jabbing at the lovely fantasy world in which she lived. Obviously the Frenchwoman had never seen _The Brave Little Toaster _before...

Once the floor was relatively clean again, of both fur and residual glitter, Sarah plopped down on her bed and allowed herself to sprawl backwards. As she lay still, though, her mind picked over what had happened that morning. While the dream hadn't really shocked her, Jareth's position, not to mention her own, had when she'd woken up. Her instincts told her that the royal should have tried to cuddle with her while she was vulnerable. After all, he never overlooked the chance to attempt it while she was awake. For him to have stayed where he was the entire night seemed oddly out of character for him. But, at the same time, she'd never really known him to try anything while she was clearly shaken or upset...

The few times she'd been near Jareth while she'd been asleep had resulted in rather frightening scenes. When he'd told her after the Hangover Incident that she'd snuggled, she'd not wanted to believe him. After all, she'd never been told by anyone, including her parents, that she snuggled. Weren't snugglers supposed to cuddle up to everything? Pillows, pets, plushies...people? She could not recall a single other time when she'd done anything like that. And until the previous night, she'd just pushed it off and blamed the alcohol. But what was she supposed to do now? She hadn't gone near liquor in weeks! Sarah found herself becoming more and more confused. She didn't like being unsure about things on a _good day_...and the vacuum had already made sure it wasn't a good day.

Deciding that she didn't want to hang around the apartment, where her mind could play games with her, she left her room. Poking her head into Christine's lace and feather filled space, asking, "Want to go see a movie with me?"

Christine, who was bent over a pile of sheet music, looked up and said, "What did you want to see?"

The brunette shrugged, moving a little father forward. Crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame, she answered, "I honestly don't care...I just want to go do something where my brain can shut up for awhile."

The singer glanced down at the papers spread all over her bed before giving a brief sigh and standing up. "Sounds good to me."

As they walked out of the apartment a few minutes later, they were discussing whether mindless violence or a feelgood chick flick would be the better bet for their afternoon of brainlessness.

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><p>Several hours, two buckets of popcorn, three pop refills, two bathroom breaks, and a chick flick later, Sarah led Christine into a fast food restaurant not far from the theater. Shoving a hamburger into her mouth and taking a bite, she chewed before continuing with her comments. The movie had been cute...although the heroine had started to get annoying after about ten minutes. Swallowing, Sarah took a long pull on her pop, then said, "But she <em>obviously<em> liked him! You could, I could tell, the sticky spot on the floor could tell! I kept wanting to tell her to just grow up and kiss him!"

Christine was watching Sarah inhale her food, one thin eyebrow arched sardonically. "Really..."she said, slowly and gingerly picking up a limp, ketchup covered French fry. Eyeing it balefully, she shrugged to herself and carefully ate it.

Grabbing one of the fries for herself, Sarah ate it quickly while nodding, saying, "Especially when he came over and played with her nephew so that she could deal with her boss and the woman's crazy demanding schedule. Honestly, how many guys would do that willingly? Most husbands wouldn't even be that willing! Although I did like the fact that she ended up getting her dream job after she quite working for that she-devil of a boss."

Christine very much wanted to say something sarcastic. She even felt her mouth beginning to open, her tongue starting to form the words. In a supreme act of self-sacrifice, she bit down on the appendage, keeping the sounds from escaping to do their damage. After all, Sarah _had_ just gone through a terrible ordeal...even though she seemed to be bouncing back fine from it. She hadn't heard a peep from the younger woman's room the night before. Although, when she'd opened the door, worried that Jareth had finally been captured by Teatime, only to find him cuddling with the brunette...Surely he wouldn't do something to Sarah right after she'd been kidnapped. Surely not...Christine was going to have to trust that he hadn't. And she doubted that Sarah would be so calm if he had...

After another few minutes watching culinary carnage, Christine asked quietly, "What about The Plan?"

Sarah stopped with a fry halfway to her mouth. Her eyes widening, she sat back and said, "I'd completely forgotten about that...what with the whole near death experience thing. But you have a good point. This would be a great time to discuss things."

Chris was just glad the girl had stopped sucking down her food like a garbage disposal, so she nodded in agreement. "What exactly are we going to do so you can see his hands? You're the only one of us to ever see him without those gloves of his. Could you ask the goblins? Would Hoggins know?"

"Hoggle, and I don't know if they could tell me anything or not. The worst part about asking the goblins is that if Jareth asks what I've been asking about, they'll tell him without thinking twice about it." Sarah took a short draw on her soda.

"Even if you asked them not to?" Christine wasn't all that surprised...After all, living in an opera house full of girls had taught her one thing if nothing else: don't share a secret with anyone who'd call your bluff about killing them if they told.

"Some of them would hold their tongues for a little while, but if they were threatened with bogging they'd spill faster than a lidless cup of milk in the hands of a two year old." Now Sarah was poking the pile of fries with an unused fork. "No, whatever I do, it's going to have to be without the goblins...pity that. It would have made things a little simpler..."

"So what does that leave us with?" Christine took a small sip from her water while Sarah mulled over the question.

"Us..." Sarah finally replied, looking up to meet the blond woman's blank look.

"Us?" Christine wanted to make sure she'd heard that properly. "I think you mean 'you'. I agreed to help out, but I'm not going into the frontlines of this little war. If you want to formulate a suicide mission, I'm more than happy to help you plan it. You, however, will be the one actually breaching enemy lines."

Sarah rolled her eyes as her friend finished finished. "Relax, you scardy cat. I'm not going to throw you into my story, so don't have kittens."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"The same thing I do every night, Chris."

"..."

"Sorry, I keep forgetting you aren't exactly from this time period."

"Just because I don't appreciate the humor doesn't mean I don't know where it's from, Sarah."

"Then you won't mind if I continue?"

Christine sighed. "If you must."

"Good. Now, where was I?"

"'The same thing...'"

"Oh, right! The same thing I do every night, Chris. Dream about things that get Sparkles all riled up!"

"..."

"Please?"

"I will not do a Pinky quote, Sarah."

"Just one? Just a little one?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It's undignified!"

"But he's cute!"

"They aren't even words!"

"Sure they are! And he says, 'Egads, Brain' all the time!"

"No."

"But if you do, we can call it the Pinky Plan!"

"You're way too in to this and I'm _this_ close to making you do all of this on your own!"

"..."

"That won't work on me, Sarah. Your puppy dog eyes don't work on anybody."

"..."

"If I say it, will you stop doing that with your face?"

"..."

"Fine," Christine sighed and then added, "Egads, Sarah..."

"Very good! Now then, I think I'm going to have to lure him in somehow...I'll have to come up with an ingenious way of keeping him from poofing away as soon as I go for his hands. What would keep him distracted long enough to look at his hands..." Sarah was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't hear Christine's soft (and rather unlady-like snort) snort.

"Why not just kiss him?"

"HAVE YOU FREAKING LOST YOUR EVER LOVING MIND?"

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><p>^.^ *gigglesnort* And if any of you are young enough to not remember Animaniacs, I'm so sorry for you...Those were some of the best cartoons I've seen. The stuff we have now is nothing in comparison! Go to YouTube and type in "Pinky and the Brain". That's where the humor in this little chapter came from. Can't you just see Sarah and Christine as Pinky and the Brain? LoL!<p> 


	31. An Object in Motion

A/N: This one was fun ^.^

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><p>Looking up into the face of the blond man at her side, Sarah watched as he smiled softly down at her. A voice came from her left, saying "You may now kiss the bride" just as his mouth met hers. Soft, yet insistent, the kiss ended rather quickly when viewed in the light of others they'd shared, but she wasn't given time to complain. The audience, seated under wide awnings, applauded as the voice continued with, "May I present their Majesties, the King and Queen of the Underground." The applause grew louder as music swelled and they stepped down from the small rise. Reaching the end of the isle, Jareth leaned down and said quietly into her ear, "I still say there isn't enough glitter..."<p>

Sarah simply gave him a look as they were approached by Christine and Raoul. The still-not-married couple had been talking about tying the knot since before the brunette had met them. Something told her Christine was still struggling with the fact that Erik had been so willing to put more space between them. The opera singer had lived quite a number of years with the masked man only a few steps away...now they saw each other only a few times a month.

After several minutes of accepting the guest's congratulations, Sarah heard music beginning to play near the dance floor. It was large and wooden, nestled between several trees and under a massive tent. Jareth had disappeared at some point while her back was turned.

Moving in the direction of the music, still accepting congratulations along the way, she scanned the crowd for her new husband. Something about the situation seemed vaguely familiar, but the memory kept darting out of reach just as she came close enough to grab it. Her sparkle-and-glam shadow, however, was staying resolutely hidden...which was strange.

The dance floor was already full of couples by the time she reached it. Across the way, she saw Erik talking to Javert while twisting one of the white tablecloths into a long, thin rope. The officer pointed something out and Erik paused as he considered whatever it was the man had said.

While seeing Erik and Javert having a conversation about ropes was strange enough, the sight which met her eyes when she looked out onto the dance floor nearly had her back-peddling. Surely the world was ending if Susan Sto Helit was willing dancing with Crowley...The few times they had been together in Sarah's presence, the snake had exerted great effort at annoying Death's granddaughter to...well...death. She, in turn, would subtly threaten him with the large sword she carried. It usually ended when Aziraphale stepped between them, rebuking his apartment mate in the process. Az never once rebuked Susan...which had begun to strike Sarah as odd. Then again, the woman didn't seem to be malicious in any way. Outspoken, forthright, powerful, friendly (in her own way)...but never cruel or needlessly blunt. So why wasn't she dancing with the angel? Had the apocalypse finally come? On her wedding day?

Her rambling thoughts about the two ground to a halt, however, when the granddaughter laughed at something the snake had said. What strange, alternate universe had they all landed in? And was there any way to go home? Turning resolutely away from the sight, Sarah continued on her hunt for that elusive being called "husband".

As her eyes scanned the rest of the floor, she caught a glimpse of a familiar shock of pale blond hair. However, people kept moving, and it was quickly hidden from view. Again, she got that feeling of dejavu... It wasn't until she'd rounded the space once completely that it hit her. Almost literally. Three little goblins darted past her, one of which had his large nose wedged inside a champagne flute.

"Well..." Sarah muttered to herself as she scanned the space again. "I suppose I should be glad there isn't a massive pit of cushions in there somewhere." At least there hadn't been the last time she checked... Rubbing the side of her face, she decided if Jareth wanted to play that game, she'd cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Striking out into the whirl of bodies, the memories of a crystal ballroom flooded her senses. This time, though, she wasn't on a mission to save her brother (who seemed to be playing a game of Chubby Bunny with Peter and Tom over in the corner at that exact moment). Nor was she a naive fifteen year old facing down a magical enemy who liked to change the rules to see her squirm. Now she was a strong young woman who'd faced her fears and stepped out into the unknown...only to find herself in familiar territory.

And there he was, right in the middle of the floor. And he was alone. No be-masked women clinging, thank goodness. On his face was a soft smile and he said, "I think it's about time we finish our dance, don't you?"

And as he said it, he raised his arm and held out his naked left hand to her. She saw something gleam on it just as she saw stars.

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><p><em>BONK!<em>

It is a known fact that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. However, when an object in motion meets an object at rest, neither of those two things happen...Instead, you end up with a great deal of pain and words which, when strung together, make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"Owwwww..." came the voice of the object at rest as it rubbed its forehead, attempting to remove the sting left behind by the object in motion.

"Random feathery mistletoe helmet hair glitter perv dynamite!" the object in motion was curled in on itself, head pressed against a knee.

"Holy Sydney Opera House," came the first voice, "I'm sorry! I promise to never suggest you kiss him again!...Did you really have to attack me with your head,though?"

"I didn't..." said the other, "But now that you've promised, I'll hold you to it." Still massaging her forehead, she pushed her dark hair over her shoulder. "Why in the world did you wake me up?"

"You were twitching...As in, I thought you were going to come off the couch at one point. While I don't mind sharing the living room with you, I have no desire to watch you crack your head open on the coffee table when you launch yourself at it. Was it another dream?"

"I suppose you could call it that," said the brunette as she moved to face the blond, who was now perched on the sofa arm.

The two young women had left the restaurant rather quickly after Sarah's outburst...nothing like getting death glares from old people and babies to make you finish your food in a hurry. The journey back to the apartment had been a quiet one, although Christine had wanted very badly to say a thing or two as they walked along. Because, all joking aside, the girl needed to face reality and just kiss the guy...Granted he shed more glitter in an average day then Niagara Falls did water, but there were worse fates for Sarah then to end up with a magical king who apparently really enjoyed being a father.

As she moved to go back to the armchair, Christine added, "Though it took me a good three minutes. That's why my head was within range..." She rubbed it again. "You were deep into it, whatever it was."

"Three minutes?" Sarah asked, looking over the other girl blankly. "Are you sure?"

"Well, it wasn't _exactly_ three minutes...Might have been closer to four."

"..."

"Sarah, are you alright?" Christine was watching her roommate as the color fell from her cheeks, then swept over them again in a bright wave of color.

"Of all the dreams he had to watch...It had to be that one." Sarah groaned as she hid her face in her hands. "He's probably out hiring caterers and getting a band as we speak..."

"I'm confused," Christine said.

"It was a wedding," her friend said, voice muffled thanks to its position in the ubiquitous pillow.

"How sweet!" exclaimed the blond, not seeing her apartment mate stiffen as she began asking in rapid succession, "What were the colors? Who was there? How big was the buffet? Was there a dance floor? Who were your bridesmaids? Wh-"

"Christine!" Sarah's choked screech stopped her in mid-question.

"Oh...right. Sorry," came the sheepish response. "It's just...I love a wedding!"

"..."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry..."

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><p>AN: Hahahahaha! Weddings ^.^ Gotta love it!


	32. Christine the Carrot

A/N: Sorry this one took so long...Life has been kind of interesting lately. I recently got a second job, and I'm also preparing to head to China in a few months, so the hecticness of it all will probably only increase. However, I will continue to work on this story. I love the characters too much to leave them alone for too long at a stretch.

Anyway, here's the newest chapter. I hope you enjoy ^.^

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><p>Sarah was sitting in the middle of a lecture, listening to the professor go on and on about something dealing with obscure political precedents in international courts of law when she happened to glance down at her notebook. Apparently, she'd been doodling...Staring up at her from the page was the youngest of her dream children, the little boy with dark hair and bright blue eyes. He was sleeping, holding tightly to a stuffed goblin toy. He looked so angelic, his hair flopping a bit like his older sister's. Just looking at the rough sketch, Sarah could tell that he was going to be a heartbreaker in a way his older brother never would be.<p>

Turning the page, she got back to the business of taking notes. However, after a few minutes, her mind drew her back into contemplating her dream family. All four of her children, the blond twins and their two younger, brunette siblings had such distinct personalities, she felt like she knew them better than some of the _real _people in her life...Which was disconcerting, to say the least. Although something about them kept poking at the back of her mind. Something about them seemed a little strange.

When class ended about half an hour later, Sarah was still trying to decide why the dream children seemed odd. She was a little over halfway back to the apartment when it hit her: they didn't have names! Not once had she heard Jareth say any of their names, and she couldn't recall ever doing so either. Even the children themselves never spoke to one another using proper names...

For some reason, this discovery seemed very important to Sarah. She even stopped and pondered it on the sidewalk for a minute or two. Why had she never wondered about the names, or lack of them, before? Surely that was something she _should_ have noticed.

Hurrying the rest of the way home, she walked straight to her room and began flipping through some of the English history books she had. Finding a few vague references to how naming something could give it added meaning, she decided to do what curious people did all over the world when they wanted to find the answer to something: she Googled it.

It didn't take long to find exactly what she was looking for. After typing in "why are names important", she found an article which stated that a name is important because possessing one proves the person's existence to others. Sitting back from her computer, she thought back over what she'd learned in her history classes. When someone was dethroned, in Egypt for example, their name and likeness would be removed from the walls and monuments all over the country. In that way, the new ruler would attempt to remove them completely from the written and remembered record. This didn't always succeed, but it seemed to have a psychological effect, if nothing else.

Could there be something meaningful behind the fact that her dream children were nameless? Did Jareth recognize the importance of this? Was he hiding it from her?

Groaning, Sarah rubbed her hands over her face before getting up and flopping down onto her bed. Why couldn't things be simple? Why did everything have to be so bloody complicated! There were girls in the world whose hardest decision for the day would be whether or not they should wear the pink top or the blue one...But here she was, attempting to decipher dreams which could possibly contain one version of her future.

Grabbing an edge of her blanket, she wrapped it around herself until she looked like a misshapen egg roll. Within the relative safety of the fluffy covering, she allowed herself a sniffle or two. She didn't want the children to be real, but, at the same time, she was beginning to truly feel attached to them. Affectionate, even. After all, even if only in the world of imagination and fantasy, they were _hers_. Having grown up in a broken home, Sarah knew what it felt like to feel unwanted. She knew the sting of rejection while still too young to realize it wasn't her fault for being in that situation. She never, _ever_ wanted to be responsible for someone else feeling that way.

Before she had the chance to drift off into sleep, she heard the living room door slam open and shut. The stomping footsteps of an obviously upset singer could be heard even through the layer of thick coverlet she was wrapped in. When Christine got into a mood like that, Sarah tried to stay out of her way. Meaning, she didn't move as the steps got closer and closer. However, when her own bedroom door was thrust open hard enough to bounce off the wall, she peeked out of her cocoon...only to come face to face with a very ticked off Frenchwoman.

"I would just like to say, before you kill me with that metronome you carry around in your bag, that I told them to stay out of your room!" Christine's eyes narrowed as Sarah said what could possibly be her final words.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, and that is probably a _very_ good thing right now...What is more important at this exact moment is what the salon has done to _**my hair**_!" And with that final exclamation, she reached up and pulled the bright blue scarf, which had been wrapped around her head, off.

Sarah could almost feel her eyes bulge a little as she took in the sight of her once blond roomie. The young woman before her was sporting a head of rust orange, with a few streaks, here and there, of a deeper red.

"What in the name of drugged fruit happened?"

"The girl got my highlight appointment mixed up with a full color, that's what happened! It took me ten minutes to realize something wasn't right, but by that point, it was already _much_ too late!..." Sarah had pulled herself partially out of her blankets at this point so that she could more closely examine the damage.

"Can they do something to fix it?" The color looked fairly faint, which meant that it had been washed out pretty quickly.

"I'm going back in on Monday...That was the first day they could fit me in." Christine, who had obviously managed to get home using her anger for energy, was now drained and near tears. "Raoul is coming in on Friday, though! I don't want him to see me like this!"

"Do you think he'll care?" The brunette wasn't sure how the vicomte would react when confronted with his fiance's now carrot-like hair.

"He'll probably just point out how this would never have happened if I'd been back in France with him," the singer muttered, as she reached up to touch her head. "Everything seems to revolve around that these days..."

"But you were glad to get to visit, right?" The two of them hadn't really managed to have a true girl-to-girl talk for awhile. Sarah was curious to hear more about their relationship.

"Of course," Christine was quick to answer, although she followed that up with, "But I suppose it's a bit like going home for everyone else...You have a life for yourself where you are, and the life you led before will never be quite what it was. I think I was homesick more for the good memories from the past them I was so much for Paris itself."

"Well...if you're going in to the salon on Monday and Raoul is coming in on Friday...Why don't we go down to the store, pick up a box of blond hair color, and try to do an in-home fix?" Sarah watched as the girl's eyes got wide as they looked at her.

"You want me to put that...stuff in my hair?"

"Yep!"

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Can it honestly look any worse than it does right now, Carrot Top?"

"...You have a point. Let's go."

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><p>Several hours and a box of home hair treatment later, Sarah looked across the coffee table at her apartment mate. The girl had all her hair wrapped up and hidden in a towel, which had, until recently, been a snowy white. Now it had streaks of orange and yellow across it, testament to the fact that whoever had been doing hair over at the salon Christine went to had been <em>very <em>new at their job...Or had been searching for a way to get fired.

"It should be fairly dry now, I'd think," Sarah said, as she stood up and pointed towards the bathroom. "Why don't we go see how it turned out."

"All I ask is that it at least be a natural, human color...I can't imagine why someone would honestly_ want_ to dye their hair bright red."

"Didn't Carlotta have reddish hair?"

"And you have just proved my point."

The two were silent as the towel began peeling away. Once the cloth was gone, the silence grew. After about thirty seconds, Sarah decided someone needed to say something.

"Well...bright yellow _is_ better than orange...right?"

"..."

"Christine?"

"..."

Sarah stepped back involuntarily as the now yellow haired young woman turned slowly to face her. "Chris? Are you alright?"

"Sarah. I'm going to ask you a favor."

"Wh-what is it?"

"You are going to make a wish. Now." The singer's eye was twitching.

"No I'm not! You want to go visit the Labyrinth for thirteen hours, be my guest. Been there, done that. You want to deal with _that_ pain in the neck, go right ahead!" Sarah watched as the face of her roommate changed colors several times.

"I'm not asking you Sarah...I'm stating it as a fact. You will make a wish. NOW!"

"Or you could find a different salon?"

"..."

"You could shave your head?"

"..."

"You could get a wig!"

"..."

"No!"

"You're the one who talked me into doing this to myself!"

"Yeah, after you went to a professional salon and they turned you into a carrot! At least now it's something a bit more squash-like!"

"Not funny, Sarah!"

"I'm not making a wish for you, Christine! You want a wish? Go downstairs and ask him yourself!"

"..."

There was silence in the room for a few seconds.

"How much do you think could happen in thirteen hours?"

"If he doesn't reorder time on you or drop you into an oubliette? Tough to say..."

"But my haaaaiiirrr!..."

"I hear that there's a very nice selection of wigs in the prop room down at school..."

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><p>Christine in my version of the crossover 'verse goes to get her highlights (and probably her nails, etc.) done on a regular basis. And once in a lifetime, at least, the salon gets it wrong...Poor Chris ^.^<p> 


	33. NOT a Genie

A/N: Okay, about this chapter...I'm sorry for the wait, but I kept getting distracted with life. And honestly, I have no explanation for Jareth's attitude here. In some cases, he's willing to use his magic to help others, but I have a feeling that being treated like a genie would get to him, after awhile. So, if this chapter annoys you, blame the Goblin King... ^.^

* * *

><p>Erik, even with his newfound willingness to grant Christine a tad more space, was still the same love-starved, easily excitable creature that he'd always been. Therefore, when his work was interrupted by a recognizable knock (at least, it was recognizable to him...he couldn't help the habit of years, after all), he hurried to get the door before glitter ended up all over the place.<p>

Taking a deep breath, he put a small, welcome-come-in-won't-you? smile on his face before he took the handle and looked out into the hallway. Christine was standing there, swathed in a colorful collection of scarves, a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes. _He_ knew it was Christine because he'd spent so many years learning everything about her...he had to wonder, though, if anyone else would have realized that his favorite young opera singer was the one furtively looking over her shoulders in both directions.

"Come in?" What would normally have been a gracious and excited greeting came out as a slightly confused question.

Moving past her old nemesis quickly, Christine cast one last glance down the hall before grabbing the door from him and clicking it closed. Sighing somewhat dramatically, she turned back to face him, pulling sunglasses from her eyes.

Regaining a bit of his control, he reapplied the soft smile and began to say, "To what do I owe the pleasure-"

He cut himself off, however, with a strangled, gargled gasp as the scarves were removed from her head.

"Who who who?" he demanded, his eyes glinting in the way which meant he was three measures away from punjabbing someone.

"You are not the King of Siam, nor do I want you going off and killing someone, much as I wanted to myself earlier this afternoon, so calm down. Where's Jareth?" Christine was casting suspicious glances around the room, acting as though the Goblin King was hiding behind the sofa.

"Who who who?" Erik was annoyed about the request for his more effeminate apartment mate, but, for some reason, his eyes would not move from the ghastly shade of yellow orange her hair had been transfigured to. Whatever cretin had _dared_ ruin her beautiful, golden curls was going to live in mortal terror of masked men for the remainder of his life, all two minutes of it.

"Jareth!" Christine moved away from the mumbling phantom, ignoring him in favor of the more direct approach. Managing to leave the apartment, and the worried brunette behind, had been quite the feat, but desperation could give a person powers they'd never before possessed.

The blond royal poked his head out languidly from his bedroom before walking down the small hallway to stand before her. Bowing a bit, he asked, "To what do I owe the honor of your visit, Miss Daae?"

"Just tell me what I have to do for you to change my hair back to its actual color," she said, taking a deep breath. While she hadn't admitted it to Sarah, the idea of wandering around the Labyrinth was not a pleasant one at all...Especially seeing that it wasn't part of her story, which meant she had no guarantee of coming back in one piece.

His eyebrows arched a bit higher into his hair, although he did take a moment to study what had happened to her own. "Have a little mishap, did we?"

"You could say that..." Christine could tell that Erik had come up behind her, but she was ignoring him at present. If she looked at him, she would more than likely lose the nerve to do what Jareth might ask.

"I'm afraid I don't understand your question, Miss Daae," Jareth finally answered, moving sideways to take up a perch on the arm of the sofa. "You want me to do something about your hair?"

"Yes."

"As in, use my magic to make it better?"

"Yes."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I'm asking you to."

"Oh, I see..." His voice slid lower and he rose from his perch to approach her. Erik, who had been pacing angrily up and down behind her, watched the king with suspicion. Both the blonds ignored him. Circling around to Christine's left side, Jareth leaned forward so that he could speak directly into her ear while maximizing his height. He said, very low, "I'm afraid you have nothing I would want, Miss Daae...And I am not now, nor have I ever been, a genie."

Christine's face flamed red as he added the sarcastic bit at the end. "I'm well aware of that, Jareth! I simply-"

"You simply what?" Jareth demanded as he spun back around to face her. He'd been headed towards his room, but was unable to keep from responding. "I would remind you, Miss Daae, that I am not the 'good guy'. I don't do nice things to help distraught young women in their time of need." Moving quickly, he crowded up to within inches of her face. A strange light shone from deep within his mismatched eyes. "I'm the one they need saving _from_. You want a wave of a hand to set your hair straight? Then I suggest you go find your alarm spell friend."

Christine, while a little freaked out by his sudden I'm-the-villain-and-don't-you-forget-it attitude, was not the shrinking violet all those women made her out to be. She'd been stalked by a masked murderer, after all. Straightening her back, she threw out at him as he once again headed towards his bedroom. "You'd do it for Sarah!"

That caught him just as he was about to shove open his door. Freezing, he said bitingly over his shoulder. "You are _not_ Sarah, Miss Daae. Your story and hers share only the vaguest resemblance, and even then only in very superficial ways...For Sarah, I would reorder time, if she asked it of me. But even then, I am neither hero nor genie. In future, please remember that." And with that final, stiff request, the door clicked shut and the living room stood silent.

But as Christine took a deep breath and turned to make as dignified an exit as possible, she found herself looking up once again at the phantom. His face twisted around a bit, comically if she was really thinking about it, and then he blurted out, as though unable to control himself any longer. "Who who who?"

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><p>Not really any fluff here...but I do like the fact, the more that I read it over, that Jareth is reminding everyone what his own fairytale origins are: he's the villain (even if he is more glittery than most). Perhaps fluff next time? Please review and let me know what you think!<p> 


	34. Messing with Magic

A/N: Short one to go along with the most recent chapter. Each of the breaks is a change in POV. Enjoy ^.^

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><p>Jareth was sitting in the dark, his back against the headboard. Glaring around the bedroom he'd claimed as his, he looked for anything to take his anger out on. He'd once been feared! He'd threaten to bog someone and his subjects would dart for cover. Now what was he? A fairytale magician who got called in to fix a bad color job...Glowering, he threw a crystal across the room, watching as it shattered in a shower of phosphorescent glitter.<p>

He should have just told her to make a wish, then watch her bumble around in the Labyrinth for thirteen hours...but then Sarah would get all upset and Erik would attempt to kill him. No, it wasn't worth the trouble. And he didn't _dislike_ Christine...Much.

If he wasn't going to get a happy ending, he wasn't going to waste his time acting like the hero.

* * *

><p>French muttering crept out from under Erik's door. The words made little sense when strung together, although they included ones with meanings like "long rope" and "squash". After a few hours of this, the door cracked open and a dark shape slunk out into the hallway. Granted, it wasn't as intimidating or hidden as it might have been...after all, the sun was still out. This made it very easy to follow the path of the swathed, slinking figure as it exited the apartment.<p>

Looking into his now deserted bedroom, it was apparent that the phantom had left in some haste. However, the pages pinned to his walls and thrown about the room were, for once, not sheets of music.

Lying forlornly on the table was the shell of a phone book.

* * *

><p>It had taken Christine nearly two hours to find Luna after she'd left the obviously perturbed Jareth. Why she hadn't thought of the girl in the first place, she couldn't say...Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the Goblin King fit, in some ways, more easily into her conception of the world (based on what she'd been written into) as opposed to the wand waving witch.<p>

Wrapped once again in her scarves, the large dark sunglasses hiding her eyes from passerby, she ran the magical woman to ground in the local park. Sitting beneath one of the shade trees, she was browsing through a magazine with a strange language on the cover. It was only after Chris had hailed her that she realize the language was English, read upside down.

Five minutes and a quick spell later, the opera singer thanked the witch before hurrying back across the street towards the apartment building. As she reached for the door, she thought she heard a strangled screech. Looking up and around, she couldn't see anyone, so she pulled the door open and made her way up the stairs.

Reaching her apartment, she glanced towards the living room as she entered just in time to see Sarah's eyes go wide. Lizzie, who was sitting on the couch, turned her head to see what had made Sarah falter in mid-word. Letting out a bark of laughter, she threw her hands over her mouth quickly.

Looking at them as though they'd both sprouted horns (and people said that singers were strange), she moved through to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Sarah heard the startled scream, followed by a telltale <em>thud<em>, before she could get to her roommate. Apparently, she _hadn't_ actually wanted a pair of slim, elegantly curving horns poking out of her hair. Understandable, really...

Lizzie, who knew a little something fainting (no matter what she said on the topic), walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass, filled it with cold water, and proceeded to dump it over Christine's now be-horned, still squash colored hair.

Waking up spluttering, she blinked water out of her eyes. Reaching up to feel her head, she said, "For a moment, I thought I'd sprouted-"

"Horns?" asked Lizzie, who was now leaning nonchalantly against the bathroom door frame.

It was at that moment when Chris' inquisitive fingers found the slender protrusions.

The building actually seemed to shake with the wail she generated upon her discovery.

* * *

><p>Back in the dark which was Jareth's bedroom, a voice could be heard loudly complaining, "Can I not even <em>brood<em> in peace?"

* * *

><p>Nope, sorry GK... Not even the time to properly brood ^.^<p> 


	35. Wrong Dream

A/N: Here you go, little goblins ^-^ And lookie! A new character to play with! *secretive little grin*

* * *

><p>"That <em>is<em> strange..." Luna said calmly as she walked slowly around Christine, her eyes locked onto the two curving horns poking through the young woman's hair. "It was a very basic spell...I can't imagine what would have interfered with it. Were you under a spell before coming to me?"

Chris could only moan as she shook her head rapidly in the negative. "All I wanted was my hair color back! Now I look some Greek myth wannabe!" Her tone of voice warned them that another world shaking wail ws pending.

It was at that moment, however, when their apartment door burst open, revealing Javert and a darkly swathed figure. It was clear that the captive had fought the entire way to the building, but the officer was obviously not going to let go.

"Would you just calm down, Erik!" This demand came as a length of rope attempted to wrap itself around his neck and shoulders. "And no, you can't go blow up anything! Stop it!" The two were now locked together thanks to the rope.

It wasn't until the blond snapped at him with, "ERIK! Put the rope DOWN!" At that the phantom paused in his attempts to strangle the other Frenchman.

"But Christine..." his voice came out in his own version of her earlier wail. "Your hair! And...and...there are horns!"

Before either of them could knock the building down with their duet of _Cats Howling On Alley Fence_, the door flew open again. This time it was Sarah who entered, dragging her own darkly swathed figure. However, this captive was puffing off aggrieved and angry glitter with every step. Using his pointed ear to direct him in the proper direction, the young brunette made the Goblin King stand up against the wall beside his equally upset apartment mate.

Pointing at the opera singer, who was looking pitiful and bedraggled on the couch, she demanded, "Explain!"

Obviously upset himself, the Fae king wrapped his I'm-angry-can-you-tell cape more tightly around himself and said in a voice very much resembling a petulant child, "I've told you already, I didn't do anything! This time..."

"Why don't I believe you?" Sarah's left eye was twitching.

"Because you live in a world where I'm always the villain and you're never wrong?" Jareth's left eye joined hers.

Sarah's face flushed a bright red and clenched her hands tightly at her sides. Whether the blond would have gotten hit by her will never be known, though, for it was at that moment a lilting voice could be heard drifting through the room.

Jareth's cape went still for a moment as recognition obviously hit him squarely between the eyes. And then all the rest of them saw it, too. Perched in mid-air was a small man-like creature, his finger resting against the Fae's forehead.

"Puck..." came the royal's exasperated voice as the creature lowered himself to the floor. He wasn't incredibly tall, although if he stretched himself up fully he might manage to just reach Sarah's height.

"I should have known you were involved in this somehow...been messing with mortals again, have you?" He indicated the blond on the couch.

Puck turned his head, smirking a bit as he shrugged, "I was bored. Oberon's been busy with stuff recently, so I've had quite a bit of free time. Figured it wouldn't hurt to practice a few of my more amusing skills." A pout settling over his features, he asked, "But aren't you glad to see me? When you were young, we used to have great fun! Do you remember those two sisters? The ones who-"

"Enough, Puck!" Jareth said quickly, not meeting Sarah's eyes as he interrupted the imp.

Chuckling to himself, he threw his gaze in Sarah's direction before sighing dramatically. "I suppose you want me to take them away?" He asked, waving his hand in Christine's general direction.

"Yes," Jareth bit out. "I've been taking flack for your little magical joyride, so fix it before we go have a talk with Oberon."

"No need to get testy...I'm sure your lovely future queen won't take it out on _you_, now she knows about _me_. There. All fixed now. Happy?"

Christine tentatively raised her hands and felt the top of her head. The horns were indeed gone now, which led to a whole new bout of tears. Luna's spell also finally kicked in once the interring wood sprites magic was removed.

However, it didn't take the young Frenchwoman very long to gear herself up to give the creature a true set down, but before she could do more than take a deep breath, Puck laughed, saying, "I think that's my cue to leave! Bye for now!" So with a hum and a smile, he vanished. And he did all that without even one piece of glitter.

As Erik finally managed to calm down in the corner and Christine began muttering things in French under her breath, Sarah turned to face the Goblin King. He still wasn't meeting her eyes, but that didn't stop her from asking, "What sisters?"

* * *

><p>The best version of Puck I ever saw was at a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford, Ontario. All four years of college, I went with a group up there and we watched a few plays. When they did MND, the humans were from the fifties and the fairies were beatnicks. I LOVED it! I became a Puck fangirl then. Right then. So imagine him being a little more...leather than fig leaves. Kay? ^-^<p> 


	36. Only Your Imagination

A/N: A new chapter! ^-^ This one is basically another dream...although it's very deep for a dream. Either way, I had fun writing it, so I hope you have as much fun reading it. Fluff is fun!

As a reminder, when you see page breaks within the story, that tends to mean that a dream has just ended and the 'real' world has made itself known.

* * *

><p>The local elementary school was just letting out as Sarah came up the front walk. Her son's expression, however, was not one she'd been expecting. It looked as though he had a miniature thunderstorm brewing over his blond head. His twin didn't look any happier, although her face looked more like tears were imminent than an angry outburst. The family dog, which Sarah had brought along as a matter of course, whined and pulled at the leash. Even the pet could tell something was wrong.<p>

As the two came up to her, she asked her son, "What happened?"

He simply scowled as the canine snuffed lovingly at his sister's arm. Patting the creature kindly on the head, she said quietly, "Can we go home, Mommy?"

Taking the girl's backpack, Sarah handed her the leash as they set off down the street. They only had to walk a few blocks to get to their English-style cottage, so the woman waited until they were nearly to their drive before asking, "Are you alright, sweetie?" Her normally overly energetic and effervescent daughter had traveled the entire way in complete silence.

The blond girl unhooked the dog's leash as they entered the house, being careful to hang it up in its proper place. Sarah thought she heard a sniffle while the child's back was turned, and that shocked her. Their eldest daughter was as much a tomboy as her younger, brunette sister was a little princess.

"Alright! Somebody tell me what happened." Now she had her 'Mom' voice out. All her children knew better than to gainsay _that_ voice. Even her husband had learned to pay attention to it.

Said husband chose that moment to walk out of the living room, their youngest daughter, six months old and as inquisitive as a goblin, held securely in the crook of his arm. Taking the situation in at a glance, he handed the baby to its mother before squatting down in front of her big sister. She faced him slowly.

"Do you want to tell us what happened, Ladybug?"

The girl took a deep breath as moisture pooled in her eyes. When she opened her mouth to speak, a tearful hiccup popped out instead.

Her brother, who had been standing in a sullen fashion next to the coat closet, asked in a biting voice, "Why can't I bog people, Mom?"

"What in the world are you talking about?" Sarah demanded, plopping one hand onto her hip and turning to face her son. "Don't tell me you did something to make your sister cry!"

Her son scowled, crossed his arms over his chest, and declared, "It wasn't _me_!"

"Who do you want to bog?" Jareth asked, turning on the balls of his feet just enough so that he could see the boy while still holding the other twin against his side. "And why?"

"Miss Susan would _never_ say something like that!"

"Who said what?" Jareth had learnt patience prior to his marriage, but he'd gotten close to perfecting it while dealing with his children.

"Our teacher said that only silly babies believe in things like fairies and goblins. _Smart_ kids know they're just stories." His nose was scrunched up as he spat out the message.

Jareth's face smoothed out and he stood in one fluid motion, hoisting his still sniffling daughter into his arms as he walked back into the living room.

Their two middle children, both with hair as dark as Sarah's, were sitting on the floor in front of the couch. It was obvious that they'd been in the middle of a story when their father had gone into the hallway. As Jareth took a seat on the couch, keeping the blond girl securely tucked in his lap, the two on the floor moved so they could see him. The dark haired boy, his favorite goblin toy at his side, asked in a slight lisp, "Is she okay, Daddy?"

Jareth smiled softly at his second son, assuring him, "She's fine; just a little confused and upset."

Sarah had followed him over and took up a seat beside him, the baby cooing quietly to herself. Reaching over, she ran her fingers through her daughter's wild blonde hair. "Do _you_ think that fairies and goblins are make believe?"

Turning her head so she could see her mother, she said, "No...I _know_ they're real."

"Well, if _you_ know they're real, and we all know they're real, then what does it matter if your teacher doesn't?" Sarah wanted to make sure there wasn't something else going on.

Jareth pulled his head back a little so that he could see the girl's face, where it was pressed up against his chest.

She sniffled again, adding, "She said I was a silly baby...and that no one likes silly babies."

While the woman declaring fairytale creatures imaginary was one problem, having her tell the child that she wasn't liked was an entirely different Bog of Eternal Stench. Catching her husband's eye, she saw his expression before it disappeared behind his "Father Face". His eyes had, for a moment, been a smoldering shade of crystal. Sarah knew that look. Being bogged was the least of their worries. Knowing that he wasn't in any state to reassure the girl, Sarah did it for him.

"Well...I believe in those things and I have plenty of friends. Aunt Christine and Uncle Erik believe in them, too. Don't they?" She gave the girl a smile, and, to her relief, it was returned with a slightly watery one.

"Do Uncle Azira and Uncle Crowley?" The twins thought the world of those two, especially since one of them could stick out his tongue and actually hiss like a snake.

"Of course they do! Don't you remember that time we were over at their house and some of the goblins got into trouble with the plants?" It was a funny memory, and the girl rewarded her with a laugh.

"Uncle Crowley was mad, wasn't he?" she giggled, rubbing her eyes on the back of her hand.

"And you can't forget Uncle Oberon and Aunt Titania," Sarah knew that if she kept listing, the child would eventually realize how silly her teacher's statement was.

"They _are_ fairies!" She exclaimed as her brother poked his head up over the back of the couch.

"And Puck! Uncle Puck is the best!" Sarah wasn't sure which was worse...Having them be obsessed with Crowley's tongue or leaving them for an afternoon with the sprite.

After several more names were added to the list of people who either believed in fairy tale creatures or who _were _fairy tale creatures, Sarah felt like it was time to segway back to the heart of the matter.

"So...do you think that your teacher was right?" She didn't want to teach her children to be disrespectful to those in authority, but she also didn't want them to learn blind obedience.

Both the twins shook their heads, before her son said, "Is this one of those 'exceptions' to the rules about bogging?"

Sarah threw him the Look, which he knew meant the subject was closed.

Dropping back down behind the couch, she heard him mutter, "I don't think there is such a thing as an 'exception'."

Since the crisis had passed, the female half of the deadly duo gave her father a kiss on the cheek and big hug before sliding out of his lap. "Thanks Daddy!" she exclaimed as she hurried out of the room to start on her homework.

Sarah glanced down at the baby in her lap, who was happily attempting to eat her own feet. Smiling at her, she felt her husband's weight shift before he pressed into her side. Bringing her eyes up to meet his, she saw the same strange light in them, the irises a crystal gray. Reaching to touch his face lightly she said in a soft voice, so the two on the floor didn't hear, "Calm down, Jareth..." Resting her forehead against his, she continued, "I'm glad they're having to deal with this now. You and I both know that most people in this world _don't_ believe in stories like ours. We're just imaginary to them."

His eyes lost a bit of their glow, but his wife could still see it lurking. Taking light hold of his chin, she softly kissed his lips, smoothing hers over his in a bid to bring him back to himself. She knew he would never hurt her or the children, that was the trust she'd handed him years before; however, she didn't have the same guarantee that he wouldn't go and destroy the teacher's home for making his daughter cry.

A moment passed before she felt his warm lips respond in kind, his accent a little thicker as he said, "Are you sure this doesn't count as an 'exception', Precious? It would be a great opportunity for me to teach my heir the proper way in which to bog an offender."

Giving a short laugh, she allowed him one last kiss before moving to stand. "As much as I would _love _to see you prove your existence to this teacher, I don't think the school would appreciate one of their employees bringing back the smell."

Taking the baby from her so that she could start dinner, he sighed, saying, "Such a pity..."

* * *

><p>Sarah woke up from the dream and stretched, looking over at the alarm clock. It was a Saturday, which meant she didn't have to get up, even though it read almost eleven. Burrowing deeper into her blankets, she couldn't help thinking to herself that the dreams were getting so much more involved...And yet, Jareth still managed to be, well...Jareth.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: Why fight them, right?


	37. Common Courtesy

A/N: Here you all go! Sarah is not a happy camper ^-^

* * *

><p>Sarah was muttering to herself as she pounded her way back to the apartment. Why was it that each and every project group she was put with ended up full of slackers and goof-offs? Seriously! Was it so much to ask for them to do the research they'd agreed to do? Shoving the building's front door open, she nearly ran into Shilo. The pale girl moved back just in time to avoid getting smacked in the nose.<p>

"Geesh, Sarah! Are you okay?"

The angry college student paused, rubbing the side of her face and then shoving her hand through her hair. "Dandy..."

"My amazing psychic abilities tell me you're lying," the other said sarcastically, shifting her shoulder bag a bit.

Glaring straight ahead, Sarah growled, "Frat boys have no right to be in college..."

Shilo shifted again, eyebrow arching, "Project issues?"

"Again."

Before Shi could say anything in response, the face of her boyfriend appeared on the other side of the glass lobby doors.

Sarah caught the telltale movement and waved at him, a forced smile on her face. Graverobber wasn't a bad guy...a little strange, perhaps, but that was 'normal' for her particular group of friends and acquaintances. The big difference was that this girl was actually dating _her_ weirdo.

"Sorry, Sarah," the young woman said, holding up her hand to let the man know she'd be a minute. "I promised him I'd go to dinner, and Dad actually agreed...sort of."

"Go on, Shi," Sarah said, turning and backing towards the stairwell. "I just need to make myself some tea," she added, giving a slightly more natural smile as her friend pushed the lobby door open.

Waving, the thin girl joined the blond man on the sidewalk. Sarah watched as he reached out and tugged her closer for a brief kiss. Sometimes, in certain lights, Graverobber reminded her of a punk rock version of Jareth...Too many strange, blond men running around the building...

* * *

><p>By the time Christine returned later that evening, Sarah had downed three pots of tea and consumed nearly half a box of cereal.<p>

The opera singer saw the state of the living room almost as soon as she walked through the door. "I'm going to assume that the project group didn't go well..."

"Frat boys have no focus, and even less work ethic. Well, unless there's alcohol involved. Do they _care_ that my grade is going to be affected by their unwillingness to actually do any work whatsoever? Nope. Of course not! That would be too much like maturity and they're all still _at least_ a decade away from that milestone."

Christine softly snorted, which was always an incongruous sound when connected with how elegant she normally tried to appear. Then again, seeing her dance around in her underwear to a Spice Girls song had more than confused and befuddled Sarah quite enough for awhile. "Most men operate that way, Sarah. Doesn't matter what age or nationality," she paused for a moment as she glanced at the window. "Or species, apparently."

The brunette turned her head to look in that direction. She wasn't in the mood to handle what she saw there. The small, pointed face of Puck laughed back at her. Pushing herself off the couch, she stomped over to face him and growled through the glass, "Wrong floor."

The sprite had his legs stretched out behind him, suspended in open air; his arms were resting on the windowsill. Grinning up at the obviously irate young woman, he said, "I'm here on official business, my dear girl. No need to get upset. We're all friends, aren't we?"

Sarah's scowl simply grew stormier. "I'm honestly afraid to ask," she bit out, keeping the window resolutely closed between them.

His voice drifted from behind her at the same time that Christine let out a startled yelp and his body vanished from the sill. "Not very nice, leaving me out in the cold..."

Sarah spun around and yelled, "I didn't ask you in for a _reason_!"

The creature crowded up into her space, face inches from hers. He said quite clearly, "I might be of a similar kind to your future husband, but I do beg you to not confuse us. What was your line? Oh yes, 'You have no power over me'... Neither am I a vampire; I don't need an invitation. Although, common courtesy, I do believe, dictates you grant me one."

"Just tell me what you want and then go away..." Sarah was reaching the end of her metaphorical rope, which meant someone was soon going to be severely injured. It was too bad none of the frat boys were nearby, but an annoying, smug sprite would serve in their absence.

"My Lord and his Lady have requested an audience with you, at your convenience." He had drawn back a bit to deliver his message, but the grin was still flitting around the corners of his mouth.

"Why?" Sarah was understandably suspicious of the Faye.

"They simply wish to meet their nephew's intended," he chortled, watching as her face became even more tomato-like.

"First, I'm not his _anything_! And second, Jareth is related to Oberon and Titania?" Even though she was massively peeved at his presumption, she couldn't keep the curiosity from creeping into her voice.

"Titania and her sister don't really see eye to eye," he assured her with a nod, disappearing before she could make an answer.

"He might have given me horns..." Chris said, coming forward to look at the floor. "But at least he doesn't bedazzle everything with his entrances and exits. We don't need any more prima donnas around here.." Stooping, she picked up a scrap of paper and handed it to her roomie. "I think he dropped this."

Sarah took it from her and couldn't stop the slightly hysterical giggle from bursting out. Meeting the singer's confused and curious gaze, she said, "Oberon and Titania have a publicly listed phone number..."

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><p>I couldn't just forget Puck...And including his whole contingent has given me ideas ^-^<p> 


	38. A Strange Occurrence

A/N: In which Jareth is acting strange and Sarah becomes concerned. And yes, if any of you are following Roomates right now, I am making a slight connection with that little situation...Although, since I don't know how that all ends, it's a rather ambiguous one ^-^

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><p>Knowing what she did of Jareth's mother, Sarah was a little leery about dealing with <em>any<em> of his close relatives. Howl and Sophie were at least several spaces away from "close". Deciding that the best person to talk to would probably be the man himself, she knuckled under and headed for his apartment.

Erik opened the door for her, his expression concerned as she walked around him. "Is everything alright, Sarah?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh nothing. Merely curious," hurrying back to his own room, he shut the door with a _click_.

"Weird..." Sarah muttered to herself as she paused outside Jareth's door. Shaking her head, deciding the phantom wasn't her issue, she knocked and waited for a response. Not getting one, she put her ear close to the door. She couldn't hear anything...at all. With a due sense of trepidation, she pushed against the wood, allowing it to slowly swing open.

The sight which met her eyes was not something she'd ever thought to see. The illustrious Goblin King, scourge of her very existence, was curled up with a pillow on the floor, sound asleep. His fluffy blond hair stood out at strange angles, which simply made him look even more like a slightly rumpled overgrown child.

Wondering if she was about to step into a very clever trap, Sarah walked towards him. Not even a twitch. He seemed well and truly out of it. Crouching down next to his head, she pushed against his shoulder. Still no response. Getting a little worried at the lack of any recognizable response, she poked him again.

When the man stayed right where he was, and only his steady breathing told her he was even still alive, she hurried back into the hallway and knocked on his apartment mate's door. When the face of the phantom peeked around it, she asked, "Has he been like this all day?"

Erik's eyebrow turned questioning. "Pardon?"

"Jareth. Has he been on the floor like that all day?"

The Frenchman followed her back into the other bedroom, his face clearly confused when he saw the curled up form of the king. "I simply thought he was pouting again...I hadn't realized he was ill."

"I don't know what _this_ is," Sarah gestured in that direction, "But I'm willing to bet it has something to do with his family...Again." They all knew how invasive his parents could be at times. Most of the building had been involved in one way or another in their little issues.

Rubbing his forehead, he muttered, "If I get yanked into another dream..." The mutterings from that point on devolved into French words which meant little to the brunette.

Sinking back down to her heels beside her erstwhile suitor, she leaned forward a bit to make sure he was still breathing. His father hadn't seemed too bad, but his mother was evil with a capital "E". While she didn't think the woman'd kill her own son, she wouldn't put it past her to try if she thought he'd done something deserving of it.

Popping back to her feet, she spun around and hurried out of the apartment. Erik's voice followed her, "What about him?"

"I've been invited to his aunt's. Might as well start there." So much for checking the lay of the land first...But perhaps Titania would have some idea as to what was going on with her nephew.

Pulling out the paper Puck had left, she flipped it over. On the back was a map, showing how to get to their building. Pushing open the lobby door, she trotted down the sidewalk. She'd lost track of how many times she'd saved his undeserving rear from his family...although saving her from Teatime had brought them a little closer to even again.

Several minutes later, Sarah rounded the last corner. Before her stretched a subdivision she had honestly never seen before. At the very end of the road, where it turned into a cul de sac, she could see what must clearly be Oberon and Titania's. Only the King and Queen of the Fairies would have _that many _flowers everywhere...

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><p>Reviews for a cookie? Please and thank you!<p> 


	39. An Enchanted Suburb

**A/N:** Wherein Sarah meets the power of fairy enchantments...Rut roh!

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><p>The entire subdivision was rather...strange? It wasn't a bad strange, just a slight off-ness about the entire street. The good thing was that Sarah didn't get the creepy-people-live-here vibe that some parts of town gave her. It was simply...strange.<p>

Slowly walking down the sidewalk, she passed home after home, where she could hear laughter coming out of backyards and smell the homey scent of baking pies. At almost every front walk, she felt tempted to turn off her path and knock on the door. But she resisted. She was here for a reason, and that didn't include a hot slice of apple pie and a cool glass of lemonade, the ice sparkling in the sun and the condensation running down the-

She caught herself. Hand on the gate to a lovely bungalow, she came to a startling realization. This was a suburb of fairies...Not Labyrinth fairies, either. This was a place of Shakespearean enchantment. The fairies of Celtic myth and lore were sneaky and able to draw the unsuspecting person into the world below. Once there, they would be unable to leave...and if they did finally manage to escape, the world above would have sped along without them. One year, five years, a lifetime...

Jerking herself away from the house, she backed up until she was standing in the middle of the tree shaded street. Enchantments were spread over everything. She couldn't see them, but now she knew they were there. Turning to face the house at the very far end, she began to run. She had known the Fae for too long to think there wouldn't be more snares set...Jareth had favored oubliettes and moving walls. Who knew what the King and Queen of Shakespeare's fairies preferred.

When she finally reached her destination, she was out of breath. Bending at the waist, she allowed herself a moment to regain her composure. It wouldn't do to knock on the door if the only thing she could manage to was wheeze. Once her heartbeat had returned to something closer to 'normal', she stood back up and reached out for the gate. She'd been invited, she reminded herself as visions of being locked in some underground kingdom again assaulted her... and this time with no way out

Thankfully, the gate didn't do anything strange when she pushed tentatively against it. Heading towards the front door, she passed a multitude of flowers, many of which she'd never seen before. Quite a few were probably magical and could do who knew what...She stayed away from them.

The door opened before she reached it, revealing a lovely woman who was dressed in a simple white blouse and periwinkle blue skirt. Her long, blond hair hung around her face in wispy strands, but it was her eyes which caught and held Sarah's attention. Jareth's eyes had always interested her, not that she would ever tell _him_ that. They were both blue, but one had a larger pupil, making it appear nearly black. The crystaline blue of the other, though, was what stared back at her from the smiling face of the woman before her.

"Miss Williams, how lovely to see you! Please, come in." Even her voice sounded like something out of a dream.

Blinking a time or two, Sarah reminded herself about fairies and their enchantments. If only she'd thought to bring something protective with her...

The woman must have seen something of her thoughts on her face, for her smile only grew larger, and she said reassuringly, "You needn't fear us, my dear. We have no desire to harm you."

And so, taking a deep breath, Sarah squared her shoulders and marched directly into the house of two of the most powerful beings in all literature and mythology. Her stately entrance was only diminished by the lilting, giggling laughter which accompanied it.

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><p>The living room was surprisingly normal, when she considered whose home she was in. The couches were perhaps a little larger and the fireplace was maybe a bit more ornate, but, overall, it wasn't quite the ostentatious overkill Sarah had been expecting.<p>

Titania was perched on a chair across from her, one bare foot tucked beneath herself. As the young human got comfortable, she said in an amused tone of voice, "I'd offer you something to drink, but I'm afraid you wouldn't accept it."

Sarah blushed a little.

Titania let out another tinkling laugh. "Oh, you needn't be embarrassed, my dear Miss Williams! You would be unwise to think anything else. While my husband and I would never wish to do you harm, there are certain of our followers who enjoy causing a bit of mayhem and mischief."

"Did you call for me, My Queen?" Almost as though her words had conjured him from the air itself, the easily recognizable voice of Puck spoke over Sarah's shoulder.

She jumped. She couldn't help it. Being in a fairy's home made her more nervous than normal. It would be akin to being back in the Labyrinth...Well, almost as bad as that.

"Puck! Be a good lad and find my husband, will you? I can't imagine where he's gotten off to." Even though she looked like a suburban housewife, she was still a queen, and Puck responded as such.

"I go, I go!" And then he was gone.

"He does so enjoy his role...Before William wrote 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', he wasn't quite so willing to please." The Fairy Queen rolled her eyes a little, but she was soon smiling again. "Oberon is as excited to meet you as I am, so don't worry about him."

Sarah was still unable to do more than nod. Why had she come to see them again? She was beginning to have trouble remembering...

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><p>Uh oh! Those enchantments might be messing with Sarah, I'm thinking ;)<p> 


	40. Extra Special 2

**A/N:** I would firstly like to apologize for going MIA on this for so long...and I haven't really come back to it yet. This is more a fluffy bit of fluff to keep you all going in our mutual JarethxSarah obsession XD Please be patient with me as I attempt to get more of this story written. I would remind you all though that this will likely never have an end, unless Roomates or GND creates one. I'm just playing in their world, after all.

Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I love you guys ^.^

*The song quoted is "The King is Dead But the Queen is Alive" by Pink.

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><p>Jareth was bored. Never a good thing for someone like him...It was common knowledge, at least in certain circles, that a bored Fae generally meant a natural disaster or other terrible occurrence was about to take place. Finally, after five minutes of tedious boredom, Jareth decided that it couldn't hurt to go check on his bride-to-be.<p>

Reappearing outside, he calmly walked along the building, his feet firmly attached to the brick wall. Coming to a stop on one side of Sarah's bedroom window, he carefully peaked around the edge, checking to see what she was up to. Homework, apparently. Her dark head was bent forward, all that lovely hair spilling over one shoulder as she studied. His eyes softened for a moment, although no one was around to see it. The young woman expended so much energy pursuing her studies. He was proud of her drive...of her desire to know more.

Moving back a little as her head came up just a tad, he watched as she reached over and pushed a button on the device which was quietly playing music beside her. However, whatever song had just come on caught her attention, for she sat back fully, a huge smile on her face as she turned the volume up enough for him to actually be able to hear it outside.

"The King is dead but the Queen is alive,  
>Off with his head I am done with his lies,<br>A fair win I have fought for my life,  
>A clean slate after all this time,<br>A revolution and now I am in charge,  
>My evolution is to shoot for the stars,<br>His first mistake he underestimates,  
>He didn't bother to appreciate."<p>

By the end of the first verse, Jareth's eyes were so large he was actually surprised they hadn't popped out of his head. What in the name of his entire, annoying horde of goblin minions was she listening to?! While the song itself was disturbing enough, her enjoyment of it was almost more frightening. She had actually stood up and started lip-syncing along by the time the singer had declared she was only out for a fair win... He was brought back to the moment, though, when another verse began.

"There are consequences in this life,  
>A punishment that fits the crime,<br>Your last words, I heard I'm sorry,  
>Now look at me in all my glory,<br>The King is dead but the queen is alive,  
>I wear your crown and I look quite nice,<br>I almost let you get the best of me  
>But no ones ever gonna get the queen."<p>

He was beginning to feel ill...It was as though someone had purposefully sat down to write out a battle song for the woman before him. Granted, the song declared that it was the queen who was doing all this, but that was a rather hollow victory, all things considered. The sheer bloodthirstiness of the whole thing shocked him a little when he placed it next to the young woman he'd known all those years ago when her baby brother was at stake.

The song wrapped up and Jareth watched, eyes still a little wide in his Fae pale face. Laughing, she dropped down on the foot of her bed and flopped backwards, her giggles shaking her slight frame. Now that the upsetting song was no longer playing, the Goblin King felt like getting some of his own back. And with that thought, he silently appeared, no glitter alerting her to his presence. Her eyes were closed and she was still trembling with the remnants of her mirth. Leaning down smoothly, both hands landing beside her shoulders, effectively boxing her in, he waited for her to look at him.

Her green eyes shot open and she stared up in a startled way at the face of the very man she'd just been singing about dethroning...The only word she could think was, "Crap."

"I would like to point out, Precious, that if you really wanted to wear my crown, I would gladly let you try it on." His smirk revealed a few of his teeth. "We don't need to resort to decapitation, I assure you."

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><p>Aww...Jareth manages to avoid the fail-field this time! At least, for now. Never know what happens once the curtain comes down.<p> 


	41. When The Queen Goes Hmmmm

**A/N:** Wherein, Miss Williams is reminded why she's actually there. 'Young' Jareth...your age is showing, Titania.

**Jareth and Sarah (c) Henson, Lucas, etc.  
>Titania, Oberon, and Puck (c) themselves (with a hand to Will Shakespeare for introducing the world at large to them)<strong>

****The original idea for this crossover 'verse belongs to *AsheRhyder (Roomates)  
>I borrowed the idea from *Pika-la-Cynique (Girls Next Door)<br>****

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><p>"But how exactly are you and Jadis related?" Sarah's confusion was apparent in the words, if not also in the tone which she used to speak them.<p>

Titania, feet curled up beneath her, took a moment to gather her thoughts into an answer. Like the angel and the snake (and Susan too, really), she could see beyond the walls which words had created for their existence. However, trying to explain how it **worked****_…_**well, that was a fairy of a different flavor. "We are not blood relations, she and I…but sisters are not always related in such a way. I have many sisters." She paused for a moment, looking around the room. "I was not so much…created as formed, shaped. William crafted me from myth…folklore…even moonlight and stardust. And others have only added to my creation since that time. Jadis was not shaped so much as she was woven, warp and woof drawn from ideas, but not out of a memory from days gone by. However," and this is where Titania looked back at Sarah, "we were both birthed from the same jewel-bud of creativity…our fathers were different, but that does not make us any less siblings. As I said, I have many sisters – some in a mythological sense, but then there are those who are related to me through an almost deeper and more profound channel: the pen." Before Sarah could say anything to this, Titania added, her fairy eyes glittering out from her human face, "Words hold power, Miss Williams. You know this. Words spoken, words written. The mouth and the pen are two of the most powerful spell casters any person may possess."

Sarah sat before this normal looking woman in her simple, yet elegant housedress, hair loose around her face and barefoot. Even looking like she did, however, this woman radiated power and control through her very skin. Her body was full of it…and it was awe-inspiring. She was every inch Queen (with that majestic, capital 'Q'). For a brief moment, Sarah wondered what it would be like to have a position like Titania did. Without thinking, she cast her thoughts into that dangerous realm of 'what if'. She could be a queen…it would take very little for her to become a queen…She mentally slapped herself, pulling her mind back from the direction it had wandered. Dangerous ground indeed.

The idea which Titania had offered her, of being not only a literary creation, but one which ran more deeply through the subconscious of a people, was an interesting thought. The fairy queen and her entire court were essentially a religion from a bygone day. They had merely been given a new face and new names by men like Shakespeare. Lewis, with his creation of Narnia, had not taken a goddess already born…he had reached into the boundless space that was 'creative imagination' and come back with the White Witch.

The somber silence of the moment ended, as many such moments did in that little college town: abruptly. A mellow voice spoke from behind Sarah and directly above her left ear. When your hair moves…person be TOO CLOSE. "A mortal…how lovely." The whole situation, seeing that she was already stretched about as tightly as she could be, pretty much didn't help. In almost a fluid motion (thanks to all that practice with His Royal Highness, King Glitterbutt) she was off the couch and facing the owner of the voice in moments. He was a tall man, youth floating around his features, but with eyes that told of centuries. He had a strong chin and an almost Roman nose.

A sigh came from the fairy queen, still seated on the opposite couch. "You know perfectly well who she is…stop acting like an idiot."

"My dear queen," Oberon's voice kept that mellowness, but went up to a more normal register, "a greeting is a greeting." Walking around the couch Sarah had just launched herself away from, he took a seat beside his wife. "How are you and Miss Williams fairing, here in this little world of women?"

"We were actually having a conversation before your need for the dramatic came along." (Sarah really wanted to snort at this, seeing that this sounded indecently familiar. But she didn't.)

"But, you did send Puck to find me…"

At his name, said creature…floated through the room on his side, from the front hall out the now open living room window, waving at her and winking.

Really, Sarah didn't know why things like this actually managed to surprise her anymore. With Jareth around constantly…oh wait…Jareth.

The king and queen were now going back and forth on things, and Sarah didn't know the protocol for interrupting, so she just did what any well-intentioned human would: in feet first! "Actually, I had a question. Do either of you know why Jareth is playing the role of Sleeping … (here she paused – did not need to say 'Beauty') Glitterbutt?" Hardly a kind name, but it worked.

"What's wrong with young Jareth?" asked Titania, refocusing on Sarah.

"He's sleeping. Like…poisoned apples or something sleep."

"Did you try kissing him to wake him up?" This from Oberon. "I believe in most fairytales…that's how such problems are resolved."

Sarah didn't point out that this was coming from the man who sent his own wife into a weird fall-in-love-with-an-ass-headed-dude situation. Sarah didn't…but Titania did. "I really fail to see why you are offering ANY kind of relationship help, even if it IS a sleep like death." After she said it, she paused. "Sleep like death…poisoned apples…sleep…Hmmmmm."

Whatever else she had learned living in that town, it was to never think "Hmmmm" was a good thing. Because it wasn't. Ever.

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><p>That dreaded "Hmmmmmmm..."<p>

**Additional A/N:** I want to say thank you to everyone who waited patiently for me to continue this story. I apologize for my poofing...and I can only say that I HOPE it doesn't happen again. However, with life being life, I can make no such promises. But for now, let the story continue!


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